WASHINGTON ― Home Republicans who voted to go President Donald Trump’s tax invoice final week comprehend it’s going to slash the federal Medicaid program by $1 trillion and kick hundreds of thousands of individuals off of their well being care.
However that sounds dangerous. And folks already hate this regulation. So as a substitute of claiming that, Republicans try out a brand new manner of speaking in regards to the invoice all of them voted for: simply faux they voted to extend Medicaid spending!
“I don’t know how you can call any of this a cut when we are increasing Medicaid expenditures by $200 billion,” Rep. Rob Bresnahan (R-Pa.) falsely claimed Tuesday on a conservative podcast, “The Bob Cordaro Show.”
Later within the present, Bresnahan additionally falsely claimed the regulation will result in “the largest deficit reduction in, I think, what will be 30 years.”
It’s not clear what the Pennsylvania Republican is speaking about concerning the $200 billion, however he’s being deceptive at finest and mendacity at worst. The nonpartisan Congressional Funds Workplace has clearly laid out how Trump’s tax-and-spending regulation will lower $1 trillion from Medicaid and improve the deficit by almost $3.3 trillion over the subsequent 10 years.
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A Bresnahan spokesperson didn’t reply to a request for remark.
In the identical interview, he tried to tout that the regulation features a new $50 billion fund to assist rural hospitals survive the invoice’s devastating Medicaid cuts. But it surely’s simply basic math that $50 billion is nowhere close to sufficient cash to offset $1 trillion ― or 20 occasions extra ― in cuts.
Rep. Gabe Evans (R-Colo.), in the meantime, mused that there’s been “a ton” of misinformation in regards to the tax regulation and mentioned it truly will increase federal Medicaid spending, which is fake.
“Under this bill, there will be more federal money going into Medicaid under the Republican plan every single year for the forecastable duration of this bill,” Evans mentioned final Thursday on the general public radio present, “Here & Now Anytime.”
Requested what he’s speaking about, Evans’ spokesperson Delanie Bomer mentioned he’s referring to the truth that Medicaid prices have a tendency to extend yearly ― a laughably bizarre level to make that completely glosses over Republicans reducing $1 trillion from this system.
Evans is actually arguing that whereas the invoice could lower $1 trillion from Medicaid and kick hundreds of thousands of individuals off of well being care, the federal government continues to be paying for the elevated annual prices of well being take care of whoever can nonetheless get Medicaid advantages. He’s not speaking in regards to the elephant within the room, which is all of the individuals who received’t have well being protection in any respect.
“Medicaid spending is always going up,” Bomer mentioned of Evans’ argument. “It’s just going up at a lesser degree” as a result of Trump’s tax regulation will strip $1 trillion from this system.
Requested why Evans voted for such a devastating lower to Medicaid, Bomer mentioned the GOP congressman doesn’t need “illegal immigrants to receive taxpayer-funded health care” and desires to ensure individuals meet work necessities to qualify for Medicaid advantages.
Besides undocumented immigrants are typically not eligible for Medicaid. And hospitals can’t flip them away in the event that they want medical consideration, which means the hospitals already on the tightest monetary footing — rural hospitals particularly, which serve plenty of Medicaid sufferers — shall be hardest hit by the loss in {dollars}. The work necessities argument can be deceptive, as a result of Trump’s tax regulation imposes such strict new necessities that individuals who would in any other case qualify for Medicaid at the moment are more likely to fall by means of the cracks.
Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) is testing out a special new approach to speak about his vote for Trump’s tax regulation: He’s attempting to take credit score for Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) and the state legislature speeding to go a state price range so as to lock in a better match of federal {dollars} for Medicaid within the state underneath Trump’s regulation.
As a result of Wisconsin state leaders moved shortly to do that, the state will get $1 billion in new annual funding. In additional than a dozen social media posts, Van Orden retains insisting that if it weren’t for him, his governor and state legislature wouldn’t have gotten this cash.
Besides Van Orden had nothing to do with their efforts.
“Congressman Van Orden never personally advocated to the governor or our office for the hospital assessment provision to be included in the state budget until after it was clearly already part of the state budget, he had nothing to do with the hospital assessment being part of bipartisan state budget negotiations with Republican leaders, and he had nothing to do with the fact that the governor decided to enact the state budget before the federal reconciliation bill was signed,” Evers’ spokesperson Britt Cudaback instructed HuffPost on Tuesday.
Requested why he retains attempting to take credit score for this $1 billion when it seems he had nothing to do with it, Van Orden mentioned the truth that the governor signed the state price range into regulation at a late hour exhibits they have been listening to him.
“The only reason [Evers] signed the bill at 1:30 a.m. was to make the deadline I spoke and wrote to him about,” he instructed HuffPost. “Period. Do that math.”
