I’ve just caught up on the thread, and haven’t seen many posts on what this bill is actually doing. It’s a $600 billion tax cut for rich people, paid for by deep Medicaid cuts, both for expansion Medicaid and for regular Medicaid.
Over time, the federal government would pay less and less per person for Medicaid. I know there’s a feeling that Medicaid is for moochers and layabouts, but it pays for a lot of things most of us think are worthwhile.
For example, Medicaid pays for about half of all nursing home costs. Are elderly people in nursing homes moochers?
The bill allows Medicaid to not pay for mental health services-- the essential benefits would remain for people with insurance, private or employer-paid, but not for people on Medicaid. This means services for autistic kids, like special therapy for pre-schoolers, would be cut. It means services for people addicted to opiods would be cut. It means care for mentally ill adults would be cut.
If someone was on the Medicaid expansion, they could stay on it, but once they ever went off, they could never go back. This does not seem like an incentive to get a better job and get off Medicaid. Moreover, the Medicaid expansion would immediately be eliminated in about 10 states, by those states’ laws.
Some of us have kids who get services from Medicaid. Some of us have parents who get services from Medicaid. Something to think about.
As to private insurance, most young people would be better off, and most older people, people the age of parents here, would be worse off in the private insurance market. People in expensive markets would be worse off, because the tax credits don’t differ with the cost of insurance. Alaska? Forget it.
