The GOP Guts Medicaid

In the first post in this series, I noted that in the "Path to Prosperity" — which Republicans approved unanimously — Rep. Paul Ryan cited Medicaid as one of the biggest drivers of our national debt. The Republican budget formerly known as the Ryan budget, it followed, was all about putting the brakes on "What Drives Our Debt," as the "scare graph" that drove the point home was titled.

There are at least two problems with Republican's assertions about Medicaid. Like I said earlier, Medicaid and Medicare are not the problem. They are part of of the bigger problem of skyrocketing health care costs. The problem is, Republican cuts to Medicaid don't lower health care costs. It increases them.

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Budget-cutting can be a bloody business, depending upon where and how deeply one cuts. It can be a deadly business too. Not for the budget-cutters, though. That's especially true for Medicaid. To understand that, you need look no further than Arizona.

It was just earlier this year that Arizona was grabbed the spotlight as an example of just how deep GOP lawmakers were willing to cut. Rania Khalek recounts Arizona's recent history in an Alternet post that reads like a budget cutting body count.

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Every once in a while, something extraordinary happens in Washington, D.C.: Lawmakers actually pay attention to what Americans really want, and then stand up for policies that reflect what most Americans want. It looks like that's what happening with Medicaid and the Republican proposal that would eviscerate a program that's vital to millions of low-income, middle- and working-class Americans.

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In my previous post, I covered what Republicans want to do to Medicaid. In this post, I intend to delve into why Republicans want to gut Medicaid.

Republicans present their budget proposal as a solution to the "problems" of Medicaid and Medicare, which their budget cites as two of the biggest drivers of national debt. But, as I demonstrated in my previous post, Medicaid and Medicare aren't the problem. They're part of the much larger problem of rising health care costs — a problem the GOP budget doesn't solve. (More on that in an upcoming post.)

If Republicans are intent on ignoring the white-coated elephant in the room, and solving "problems" that exist in their minds only, that raises an important question about their plans for Medicaid.

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Stan Collender is right. The NY-26 election special election will change the budget debate. In fact, it already has. Democrat Kath Hochul's victory over Republican Jane Corwin, in a solidly Republican district, in special election that became a referendum on Rep. Paul Ryan's budget proposal — which Corwin endorsed — turned up the volume on the debate over the Republican plan to "destroy Medicare as we know it." The Medicare rhetoric will only get louder.

Though we'll all hear more about the GOP's dastardly plans for Medicare, we'll probably hear less about their equally destructive plans for Medicaid. That's dangerous, because Medicaid is just as important as Medicare, and the GOP's plans for it could have devastating consequences for millions of Americans.

Forewarned is forearmed. Here's what you need to know about Medicare and the Ryan/GOP Budget.

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