During last night’s State of the Union, Mr. Trump said that he would protect people with pre-existing health conditions.
That is odd considering his Administration is involved in a lawsuit to get rid of the Affordable Care Act that would do just that.
During the same address, the 2016 Popular Vote Loser said he would protect Social Security and Medicare.
That is also odd because only last month, the Liar in Chief said at Davos that he (and also the majority of the Republicans like David Schweikert) would consider cutting both Social Security and Medicare.
Mr. Trump did not mention protecting Medicaid last night because that would have been another in a series of lies he made during his speech.
Over the last couple of weeks, the Administration has proposed a series of cutback measures to Medicaid, including block grant spending caps and fiscal accountability gimmicks. These measures, if finalized, would hurt many poor people who rely on Medicaid for their health coverage.
In Arizona, Senator Martha Coverup McSally has not told the Administration this is a bad idea for the state’s Medicaid-AHCCCS program.
The Arizona Democratic Party has responded to Coverup McSally’s muteness by releasing a statement which read:
“Arizona’s AHCCCS helps to provide health care coverage for 2 in 5 kids, 1 in 3 people with a disability, and 3 in 5 nursing home residents — but despite the program’s clear importance to Arizonans, U.S. Sen. Martha McSally has been silent in the face of Washington Republicans’ new proposal to cap and cut the program’s funding.”
“Last week, the Trump administration unveiled a plan that “could profoundly reshape how Medicaid operates” by imposing funding caps and shifting state-level Medicaid funding to a “block grant” structure.”
“While health care providers and patient advocacy groups are slamming the proposal as a pathway to deep cuts to Medicaid and AHCCCS, Martha McSally has said absolutely nothing about the proposal.”
“Sadly, it’s no surprise that Martha McSally is turning her back on Arizonans as her party proposes potential caps and cuts to AHCCCS. McSally has repeatedly voted to gut health care coverage and drive up costs, and we’re still waiting for McSally to publicly condemn Trump recently opening the door to Medicare and Social Security cuts.”
“Health care and patient advocacy groups are slamming Republicans’ block grant proposal:”
“The AARP says the GOP proposal “could lead to loss of services or coverage if the funding is inadequate to meet program needs in those states,” adding that “health care advocates worry that it will lead to fewer people getting coverage and fundamentally change the safety net program.”
“The American Medical Association says the GOP proposal “would increase the number of uninsured and undermine Medicaid’s role as an indispensable safety net.”
“The American Society of Clinical Oncology says it’s concerned the proposed “changes would limit access to care and services for beneficiaries.”
Some of the Democrats looking to defeat the Arizona Republicans serving in the House of Representatives also offered their views on the proposed Medicaid Cuts.
Arizona Congressional District Five Democratic Candidate Joan Greene
“Arizona’s Republican Governor in 2013 fought for Medicaid expansion and enacted it. The Arizona Hospital and Health Care Association agreed with the decision and supports Medicaid expansion.”
“My opponent Andy Biggs not only fought against Medicaid expansion, but he also sued the state of AZ with a frivolous lawsuit, losing in Maricopa County Superior Court and Arizona Court of Appeals while costing our state taxpayer dollars.”
“Biggs, who has lived off the tax-payer dime for 20 years, wants to financially cripple Arizona’s hospitals, the healthcare systems, further disadvantage people who are already among the most vulnerable and leave over 400,000 Arizonans, some of them his neighbors, without health insurance.”
“Biggs continues to hurt Arizona and his actions are morally wrong.”
Arizona Congressional District Six Democratic Candidate Dr. Hiral Tipirneni
“Block grants are a tried & true GOP strategy to tee up deep funding cuts to safety-net programs like Medicaid.”
“Almost 1.7 million Arizonans rely on Medicaid. This policy change will leave thousands of our most vulnerable – working families, children, seniors without medical care.”
Arizona Congressional District Eight Democratic Candidate Michael Muscato
“Nearly one in three seniors live below 200 percent of the federal poverty line. For many of these seniors, Medicaid is a critical lifeline. Arizona’s Eighth Congressional District is home to a large senior population that relies on Medicare, Medicaid, social security, and protections for pre-existing conditions. The “new” statements from this administration stating they will look to make cuts to programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, aim to target the most loyal Republican voter base in our district – seniors. More alarming than the fact our Congresswoman Debbie Lesko isn’t fighting to protect our seniors…is that she supports the policy that hurts them.”
“I’m not alone in being beyond tired of having our elected officials continue to refer to programs our hard-earned taxpayer money pays for as “entitlements”. With our national deficit topping more than $23 trillion dollars, everyone should be asking where the money is going? We see the money coming out of our paychecks yet our healthcare, education, immigration, infrastructure, and environment certainly haven’t seen any improvements or investments. Entitlements? Americans know what entitlements look like…entitlements are the elected officials who collect 200k a year of our money and use their position to increase the wealth, security, and well-being of anything but the American people. We need someone in D.C. who “get’s it”, “gets us”, and gets the job done. This isn’t a matter of “entitlements”, it’s a matter of being represented by the “entitled.”
“Eliminating protections to pre-existing conditions, our healthcare, and social security isn’t the solution we need. It’s reckless, dangerous, and deflects accountability from the root causes of the issues. If we want to address healthcare costs, then target prescription drug costs, administration costs, hospital costs, and malpractice so we can make healthcare more affordable for employees, employers, and the millions of people who currently cannot afford healthcare.”
“Our leaders shouldn’t target seniors and those already struggling to get access to healthcare. Insurance companies and prescription drug companies report record profits year after year, while American families and seniors struggle. The fastest way to fix healthcare is to replace the people in office whose campaigns are funded by those same corporations and lobbyists benefiting from their re-elections. We don’t need a corporate socialist representing us in D.C. using our money to increase their own wealth, notoriety, and power.”
“Our leaders need to stay out of our pockets, our bedrooms, our doctors’ offices, our places of worship, our gun safes and our retirement funds. They were elected to do their job not to take our money and make us beg for it to be used for our own benefit. Our seniors, healthcare, social security, and our country are always worth fighting for.”
Arizona Congressional District Eight Democratic Candidate Bob Musselwhite
“Cutting Medicaid will be the same as a sentence to death for some Americans who cannot otherwise afford medical care. Is that ethical or moral in this nation
of such abundance?”
Democrats need to brand Trump and the Republicans for what they are: The betrayers and deceivers of the most vulnerable.
In this election season, it is imperative that Democrats constantly convey to their constituents that they are the party, unlike Mr. Trump and his supporters in Congress, that will always put properly funding the Affordable Care Act, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid over safeguarding Republican tax cuts for the wealthy.
Democrats need to continually reinforce to the people that they have the right priorities for moving the country forward and ensuring no one is left behind while the Republican goals only consist of protecting their affluent supporters’ current tax brackets.
This is a winning issue for Democrats this election season.
They just need to keep repeating the message over and over again.