That’s not hyperbole. Regardless of the bill’s final outcome, tens of millions of people under Medicaid, Medicare, and the Affordable Care Act will lose their health coverage by 2034. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office puts the number at 11.8 million, though a Senate analysis believes the number will be higher.
The bill will cut health programs by about $1.1 trillion, money that can be used to offset tax cuts for the wealthy, and add more than $3 trillion to the deficit over the next decade. So much for fiscal responsibility.
President Donald Trump has become the Misleader in Chief, given all of the campaign promises he’s broken (only deport illegal immigrant criminals, bring down costs, waste and fraud, aid, yada, yada).
The government should tackle waste and fraud, but instead, it’s going after the most vulnerable Americans, including people here in the Dayton area.
More than one in four people in Ohio receive Medicaid. Montgomery County has nearly 168,000 recipients representing 31% of the population, according to the Center for Community Solutions. Other counties like Miami (22K, 20%), Greene (31K, 18%), Preble (9k, 22%) ,and Clark (49k, 36%) have significant Medicaid populations.
As many as 500,000 of the 3 million state Medicaid recipients could lose coverage, according to an analysis by the health policy research organization KFF.
The potential impact is nothing less than staggering.
Less money means healthcare facilities won’t be able to afford as many nurses and support staff, which could lead to closed offices and longer waits for those who need care. One group estimated hundreds of thousands of healthcare jobs lost.
Emergency room visits will likely increase because that’s where the uninsured will go for treatment. Under federal and state law, ER’s must take patients regardless of ability to pay. An ER visit, on average, costs $1,435 in Ohio, according to CBS News. A doctor’s office visit costs $86, according to Sidecar Health.
Those twisted ankles, pulled muscles, and sinus infections that a doctor’s office or clinic could more cost-effectively treat will show up, in greater numbers, in the far more expensive emergency rooms. Someone has to pay for that treatment, whether it is hospitals or patients via increased rates.
Here’s the scariest number. Researchers, writing for a U.S. Senate report, estimate there will be more than 42,000 preventable deaths a year due to Medicaid cuts.
The bill has two provisions that make sense, despite criticism from the left. The bill mandates that the working poor, who receive coverage under a special provision, pay more for their care. Some Medicaid recipients must work, volunteer or go to school 80 hours a month to maintain benefits. We should take care of our most vulnerable citizens, but it’s also fair to ask for a little in return.
But the cuts, overall, aren’t fair. They’re the latest in a long line of broken promises and knee-jerk reactions to a complex issue. The president said he wanted hit bill on his desk by July 4. The Senate version passed on July 1, leaving no time to work with the House to iron out differences. Worse, it makes it nearly impossible for any sitting lawmaker to read the more than 900 pages in the bill.
The country signed up for securing the borders, cutting the deficit and protecting the social safety net.
We did not sign up to take health coverage away from the poor and make their lives worse.
We did not sign up to see people die because the government cut their health care.
We did not sign up for a Misleader in Chief whose grandiose promises fade in the face of reality.
The reality is this: People in Ohio and the Dayton area will suffer because the White House rushed through a poorly analyzed bill that ignored the short- and long-term consequences for millions of Americans.
These Americans vote. Let’s hope they remember this travesty.
Ray Marcano’s is a weekly contributor for Ideas & Voices.
About the Author