Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR) and former Medicaid Director Daniel Tsai joined Protect Our Care for a press conference calling on Republicans in the Senate to put people over politics and reject the House spending bill. The bill includes the largest Medicaid cuts in history, guts key provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and eliminates premium tax credits.
As the largest health care provider in the country, Medicaid provides health care to more than 70 million Americans. According to analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, between the drastic cuts to Medicaid and the harmful ACA marketplace cuts in this bill, more than 13 million Americans will lose health care coverage and millions more will see their health care costs soar. Not only will hardworking families lose access to care, rural hospitals will shut down, seniors will be forced to leave their nursing homes, and people fighting cancer or addiction will lose lifesaving care.
“This bill can be called caviar over kids and wealth over workers,” said Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden. “The reality is the House bill has hurt written all over it. Rural health care providers say this legislation will hit them like a wrecking ball. Seniors are going to face a greater risk of abuse and neglect in nursing homes, and Americans with disabilities will lose a lifeline of care at home. This is bureaucratic water torture that’s going to cause untold suffering as millions lose their health insurance and millions more struggle to navigate through a maze of red tape. Senate Republicans need to know that cutting health care is a death sentence for their constituents.”
“As someone that has run Medicaid program at the federal level, at the state level, and now at the local level, I want to be clear: saying this bill does not cut Medicaid or won’t hurt our most vulnerable is not just misleading, it’s factually wrong,” said former Medicaid Director Daniel Tsai. “Everything in this bill will lead to millions of people losing their health care coverage, and will fundamentally destabilize and threaten hospitals, clinics, and providers. This is a master class in finding ways to disguise cuts to programs with very technical provisions.”
“Late last week, Senator Joni Ernst said the quiet part out loud and admitted that Republicans would rather line the pockets of the ultra-wealthy than protect the health care that millions of families depend on,” said Protect Our Care Chair Leslie Dach. “By putting our health care on the chopping block, Republicans are turning their backs on the American people. Their agenda is clear: raise costs on hardworking families and rip coverage away from millions. Now Senate Republicans must make the choice – side with Joni Ernst and billionaires or stand up for the health care of millions of everyday Americans. The stakes couldn’t be higher.”