Republicans Have Long Dreamed of Cutting Medicaid and This Time They Might Really Do It

As disabled protesters were being dragged, bleeding, from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's office on Thursday after he released his version of Trumpcare, I sat at home working line by line through the 142-page bill. As many have observed, it contains deep cuts to Medicaid, redistributes wealth from the poorest to the richest, and guts all the hard-won protections on preexisting conditions, reproductive care and lifetime spending limits that the Affordable Care Act had brought. What struck me, though, is how familiar all the material on Medicaid looks. Republicans have been trying to gut funding for Medicaid for more than 35 years. The only difference is that this time, they might get away with it.Medicaid is a promise. It promises the most vulnerable Americans that their basic needs for health care and disability-related supports will be met. For many poor and disabled Americans, it offers access to lifesaving health care, which is important enough. For people with disabilities, however, it also offers supports and services that can include wheelchairs, attendants to help people get out of bed or eat, equipment for schools to teach special education, housing in communities instead of institutions, and countless other critical supports. My son, a 10-year-old with Down syndrome, doesn't need Medicaid yet, but he will. And you or one of your loved ones probably will, too.  Continue reading...