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Here's what the second-in-command in the Senate has to say about the decimation of Medicaid included in Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's Trumpcare bill, one that would be more disastrous for people on Medicaid even than the House version of the bill.
“We all expect that no matter what we do, somebody is going to come back and say they want it plussed up,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who believes the cuts are essential. “We’re trying to take the only entitlement that we actually have a realistic chance of putting on a sustainable path … and taking that opportunity to get that done.” […]
The Senate bill, if passed into law, would certainly result in political pain—it would reduce federal Medicaid spending by $772 billion over 10 years, shifting to an even more frugal spending path over time. It would also for the first time cap, or limit, the federal contribution to Medicaid, starting in 2020. And it would unwind Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion. […]
Still, some Republicans admit they may not have the political stomach to go through with the most dramatic changes.
"I don’t think it will ever be instituted,” Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) said of the Medicaid cuts before he came out against the Senate bill.
"So go ahead and make these cuts now," Cornyn seems to be saying, "we'll just undo them in the future, anyway." That's in an article in Politico that treats healthcare coverage for 22 million people as if it's just another fight over "fiscal responsibility," comparing it to past battles over tax cuts for the rich. As if the primary consequence of passing the bill would be political pain for the law-makers, not the harm it would do to their constituents.
That's certainly how Republicans view this—as a budget and tax issue, not as the life and death decisions they're making. Downplaying the consequences by saying it could all be undone anyway is the most cynical of strategies. And just what you'd expect.