The GOP wants to phase out Medicaid ---- ENTIRELY

[LongTomH]

From ThinkProgress: The Senate version of Trumpcare may phase out Medicaid — entirely. The meanest motherf@ckers in the the GOP caucus got to write this abomination.

A draft of the Senate version of the bill, which was written in secret with even many senators kept out of the loop, is expected to become public on Thursday. In the meantime, leaked details indicate that the meanest, least kind or generous faction within the Republican Party won the fight over how the bill will treat Medicaid. Reports indicate that the Senate opted for a proposal by Sens. Pat Toomey (R-PA) and Mike Lee (R-UT), which sought extraordinarily deep cuts.

The Senate bill will reportedly phase out the landmark health care program — which serves nearly 75 million Americans. And it will do so fairly quickly.

To explain, Medicaid is a federal/state partnership that is administered by state governments but largely funded out of the federal treasury. It provides coverage to many of the most vulnerable Americans, including the poor and many disabled and elderly patients. Currently, the federal government pays a set percentage of the costs arising under Medicaid — 64 percent, on average — and states cover the balance.

The Senate Republican bill repeals this structure and replaces it with caps on how much money a state will receive each year. Moreover, Bloomberg’s Sahil Kapur reports, the cap will effectively lose value over time.

According to Kapur’s source, “starting in 2025, Medicaid spending would grow at the rate of inflation (known as CPI-U).” This is a really big deal because the general rate of inflation is much slower than either the rate of inflation within the health care market or the expected rate of inflation within the Medicaid program.

[Laf.La.Dem.]

1. Looks like those happy Trump supporters -

will be glad to pick up the tab of their parents and grandparents nursing home stay!