CBO: 10 Million Would Lose Medicaid Coverage Under Republican Bill

 

Republicans are anxious for the low- income and disabled to make any sacrifice necessary to give tax cuts to billionaire oligarchs:

The Medicaid portion of the House GOP’s massive domestic policy bill would result in 10.3 million people losing Medicaid coverage by 2034 and 7.6 million people going uninsured, according to a partial (CBO) Congressional Budget Office estimate. 

Republicans released the estimates just ahead of the start of Tuesday’s markup of the Energy and Commerce portion of the party-line legislation, which is key to enacting President Trump’s agenda. 

The uninsured numbers include 1.4 million people without verified citizenship who would be removed from the program and 4.8 million people who would lose coverage because of work requirements, the committee said. 

All told, the Medicaid portions of the GOP proposal would save $625 billion over a 10-year period. The panel is tasked with finding at least $880 billion in savings, and CBO said they were on track to exceed that amount.  (Ed.:  gotta pay for those tax cuts for Musk, Zuck, and Bezos!]

The biggest savings in the bill would come from the federal work requirements, which would account for about $301 billion over seven years. The provision would require childless adults aged 19-64 years old to prove they work, go to school or volunteer for 80 hours a month.  

Experts say most Medicaid beneficiaries are working, and work requirements force enrollees to complete burdensome paperwork requirements. According to a CBO analysis of a 2023 Republican bill, work requirements had no impact on the employment status or hours worked by Medicaid recipients...  (our emphasis)

Again, whether the numbers are pulled out of some DOGE-cat's ass or whether this comes out of the legislative process intact or not, it nevertheless underlines the values and priorities of the Republican/ MAGAt cult.  Those values, of course, begin and end with putting money into the pockets of the wealthy that they've taken from low- and middle- income people. Back in Ronnie Ray-gun's day they called it "trickle down economics," but today it can just be labeled plainly for what it is: "unconscionable and immoral."

(Photo:  Leigh Vogel / Getty Images for Caring Across Generations)