The Republican “screw it, slash Medicaid to the bone” plan is so unthinking and slapdash that it would cut even programs they supposedly like. Take the use of telemedicine in schools. Of course it’s best for kids to see the doctor in person, but for kids from low-income families in rural areas with few doctors, that might not be an option at all, particularly if they need specialized care. The burden of primary care is increasingly falling on school nurses. Enter telemedicine:
“The goal of school-based tele-health is to support school nurses and be a resource for them when do they do have a student who needs care above what they can provide,” said Kathryn King Cristaldi, a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics section on tele-health.
Research generally shows telemedicine in schools helps kids avoid the costly emergency room because it forestalls the need for in-person care. It has helped reduce absenteeism and saved families money, according to a 2014 literature review from Brigham Young University.
But Republicans gonna Republican. They like school-based telemedicine as a way to save money … but they don’t like it enough to invest any money in expanding its reach. Or to save it from their giant Medicaid cuts. It’s almost like their rhetoric in support of telemedicine now is only about its low cost relative to the alternatives, and if they could just make it so there were no alternatives, they wouldn’t want to bother paying for telemedicine either.
Senate Republicans are still talking Trumpcare, and plan to bring it back after July 4 recess. We absolutely MUST make sure they don’t have the votes. Keep calling your Republican senators at (202) 224-3121. Tell them “NO DEAL” on Trumpcare. Then, tell us how it went.