AARP: Proposed Medicaid cuts would severely hurt ALL age groups

[pnwmom]

http://www.aarp.org/politics-society/advocacy/info-2017/protect-patients-first-from-medicaid-cuts.html?intcmp=AE-POL-ADVO-FLXSLDR-SLIDE1

For Laurie Merges-Jett, Medicaid has literally been a lifesaver.

In 2015, two months after she lost her job and health insurance when her company downsized, the Lakewood, Ohio, mother of three was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer. Because her state had decided to expand Medicaid under the provisions of the Affordable Care Act, Merges-Jett was able to afford the 16 rounds of chemotherapy she needed to save her life.

Medicaid allowed Merges-Jett to “stay alive and be a mother to my children,” she said at a Protect Patients First forum in Cleveland this month sponsored by AARP and several major health care organizations.

For more than five decades, Medicaid has provided such critical health care coverage for millions of America’s most vulnerable. The American Health Care Act, passed by the House of Representatives in May, would slash funding for this safety net program by more than $800 billion over 10 years.

The Senate has followed suit, releasing a bill on June 22 that also would put Medicaid on the chopping block. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analysis found that the Senate measure — the Better Care Reconciliation Act — would cut Medicaid by $772 billion over 10 years, and that 15 million fewer people would be enrolled in Medicaid by 2026. In addition, the CBO reported yesterday that if the bill becomes law there would be even harsher cuts in the second decade.

SNIP

[riversedge]

1. Medicaid allowed Merges-Jett to stay alive and be a mother to my children,

NOTHING ELSE TO SAY.

[raven mad]

2. I'm glad I'm old.

If this travesty becomes law, it'll be a relief to die sooner rather than later.