The secret’s out
Senate’s Trumpcare bill would cut Medicaid, hurt children and break promises.
Parents, neighborhood leaders and Texans of all stripes were shocked last year to learn that the state had secretly and arbitrarily capped the percentage of students who could get special education services in our public schools. Up in Washington, we’re seeing another arbitrary cap scheme put into play — but this time it won’t take investigative reporting to bring the truth to light. All you need to do is read the Senate’s Better Care Reconciliation Act, also known as Trumpcare.
That bill, which was made public on Thursday after being crafted in secret, would enact a per-person cap on the amount of money that states receive for Medicaid — the federal health care program that treats 60 percent of children with special needs in the United States, and covers half of all children in Texas who have insurance.
Maybe Republicans just think that kids still learning to tie their shoelaces need to pull themselves up by their bootstraps.
Whether in our schools or doctors’ offices, these sorts of arbitrary caps are wrong and deny kids the resources they need to become happy, healthy adults. It isn’t just kids who will be hurt. Almost two-thirds of Texas nursing home residents are covered by Medicaid.
Anyone who hoped that the Senate version of Trumpcare would be less mean and have more heart than the House version will be disappointed.
It still cuts roughly $800 billion from the entire Medicaid program. Low- and middle-income families will still have to spend more money to get less coverage. Americans will still have to deal with byzantine insurance companies and bizarre billing practices to simply afford a basic necessity of life. Millions will still lose insurance.
And all those cuts will just fund a massive tax giveaway for millionaires and billionaires. Perhaps the most egregious is the so-called “CEO sweetener,” which cuts taxes on executive pay over $500,000 at insurance companies.
This isn’t a health care bill — it is Robin Hood in reverse. Give to the richest and take from everyone else.
Donald Trump promised on the campaign trail that he wouldn’t cut Medicaid, and he guaranteed “insurance for everyone.” During a speech in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Wednesday, Trump told Congress to “add some money” to make health care more affordable.
Congress didn’t listen, but that hasn’t stopped Trump from backing its plans.
The funny thing is that there actually are a few health care bills in Congress that would fulfill Trump’s insurance guarantee. More than 100 members of Congress, including Houston’s Democratic representatives Al Green, Gene Green and Sheila Jackson Lee have signed onto the United States National Health Care Act (HR 676), which would expand Medicare to everyone.
El Paso Congressman Beto O’Rourke, the Democratic who will challenge U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz in the 2018 election, also is proposing his own Medicare-for-all bill.
Meanwhile, every other developed nation across the globe has crafted its own version of a universal coverage, from Germany to Israel, Singapore to Canada. A series of committee hearings and public debates could help the American people and our representatives sort through all the best practices and truly improve our health care system. Because right now the United States is paying more per capita than any other nation and getting worse outcomes.
However, instead of working toward real improvement, Republicans in Congress are just racing to pass Trumpcare before the summer recess.
“I am concerned that this process is being driven by arbitrary deadlines set mainly for political purposes — deadlines that are forcing a rushed process with too much room for error.”
That’s what Texas’ U.S. Sen. John Cornyn said about the push to pass a health care bill — in 2009. That process involved dozens of committee hearings on Obamacare. How many Senate hearings have there been for Trumpcare? Zero.
How convenient — that’s also the number of votes the bill deserves.
Anyone who hoped that the Senate version of Trumpcare would be less mean and have more heart than the House version will be disappointed.