Let’s Play Tank the Economy: Medicaid Edition

Welcome to America’s hottest new reality game: Tank the Economy: Medicaid Edition.

The rules are simple:

Step 1: Propose massive cuts to Medicaid.

Step 2: Funnel the savings into tax breaks for billionaires.

Step 3: Watch hospitals collapse, ERs overflow, and working families get crushed.

Step 4: Don’t even bother to hide the greed.

This isn’t about balancing budgets. It’s about redistributing resources from the sick and struggling to the already absurdly rich—and doing it with a smirk.

The Preview Already Played

We’ve seen what happens when coverage disappears.

After the COVID-era continuous coverage rule expired, the so-called Medicaid unwinding began. Millions—including children—lost insurance due to paperwork chaos, not ineligibility. According to HealthDay News (May 2025), kids were cut off from medications for asthma, epilepsy, ADHD, and depression.

That was a bureaucratic failure. Now imagine doing it again. On purpose. That’s the GOP’s budget strategy.

In Arizona, the Stakes Are Personal

Arizona is home to over 64,000 grandparents raising grandchildren (ABC15 Arizona). Many rely on Medicaid to care for kids left behind by tragedy, like the loss of a parent. Others are struggling to manage chronic health conditions of their own—on fixed incomes, without fallback options.

What happens when the coverage disappears? You already know. A child ends up in the ER. A grandparent skips heart medication. Bills mount. Work is missed. And the community absorbs the fallout.

The Real Trickle-Up Economics

Medicaid cuts don’t just hurt the people directly affected.

They crash into the entire economy:

• ERs flood with crisis care.

• Rural hospitals and clinics shut down.

• Families stop spending.

• Small businesses lose customers.

• Public sector workers face layoffs.

And somehow, billionaires still expect us to roll over while they pocket another tax break. But guess what? Sick kids don’t buy sneakers. Bankrupted families don’t fuel growth. This isn’t a policy debate. It’s economic malpractice.

No One Gets Out Clean

You can’t run a society on billionaire tax cuts and vibes.

When healthcare systems collapse and working people can’t access basic services, even the wealthiest eventually feel the ripple—through instability, shrinking markets, and eroded trust.

But by then, the damage is done. And the yacht crowd is already offshore.

What Our Leaders Must Do

We don’t need more vague promises. We need action:

• Block every attempt to cut Medicaid.

• Fix the system that kicked people off coverage during unwinding.

• Protect essential safety nets like SNAP, Medicare, and Social Security.

• Stop sacrificing public good for private greed.

And if our representatives won’t do that? Replace them with leaders who will.

One Last Round

This isn’t a game for us. It never was.

But if Congress wants to play Tank the Economy: Medicaid Edition, well, we can play, too.

We call. We organize. We vote.

And we end the season early.