Former CMS Administrator: “There is no question that these cuts will harm our seniors, mothers, children and people with disabilities.”
Today, following the middle-of-the-night passing of the House Republican budget plan that slashes funding for health care and food assistance programs while creating tax breaks for billionaires, former Administrator of Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Chiquita Brooks-LaSure and Iowa State Senator Zach Wahls joined Defend America Action on a press call to condemn the Republican budget and urge Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) to vote against the bill when it reaches the Senate.
Speakers on the call highlighted how the Trump-backed Republican budget will harm their communities, particularly those who depend on Medicaid and families whose children depend on critical programs like free school lunches.
“Over 14 million people will lose their health care coverage as a result of House Republicans’ proposals that recklessly cut nearly a trillion dollars in health care spending, the largest in our nation’s history. ” said former Administrator of Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Chiquita Brooks-LaSure. “There is no question that these cuts will harm our seniors, mothers, children and people with disabilities. Both Medicaid and Marketplace are fundamental and foundational in helping millions of Americans live a healthy life, and they are also vital to our economy by keeping our hospitals, especially rural ones, open.”
“This Republican budget plan cuts health care funding that 700,000 Iowans rely on – people who have worked their whole lives, raised families and deserve better than being ripped off by big corporations and abandoned by the federal government,” said Iowa State Senator Zach Wahls. “They’re doing it to give more tax breaks to billionaires who don’t need them. These aren’t Iowa values. That’s Washington dysfunction, and it needs to stop.”
BACKGROUND
THE GOP BUDGET SLASHES HEALTH CARE AND FOOD ASSISTANCE TO PAY FOR TAX BREAKS FOR BILLIONAIRES: House Republicans voted for an unpopular, unaffordable tax break for the wealthiest people in the country, and they’re paying for it by raising costs, taking away health care, and slashing school lunches for working families in Iowa.
- COSTS GOING UP WHILE BILLIONAIRE TAXES GO DOWN: House Democrats released a nonpartisan CBO analysis confirming Republicans’ plan will raise health care costs for working families and take away Medicaid from nearly 9 million people, all to pay for a massive tax break for the ultra-wealthy.
- BUDGET WILL SLASH HEALTH CARE ACCESS: House Republicans’ budget will put health care at risk for some 586,732 Iowans, even though 91 percent of Iowa voters oppose cutting Medicaid in order to pay for tax breaks for billionaires. This will create at least a $712.7 million hole in the Iowa state budget and cause premium costs and out-of-pocket costs to rise for nearly 100,000 Iowans.
- Republicans’ bill works to remove as many Medicaid recipients as possible under the guise of “work requirements.” In reality, virtually all Medicaid recipients work, are caregivers, are elderly or have disabilities.
- Medicaid disproportionately serves children, older people, and people with disabilities, and in Iowa, this includes:
- FOOD ASSISTANCE SLASHED: House Republicans’ budget cuts free and reduced-cost school meals, Meals on Wheels and the nutrition program for Women, Infants and Children. They’re putting food assistance at risk for nearly over 116,000 Iowans across the state.
- The House is set to enact the largest cuts to food assistance in history. Republicans’ bill will also enact new unnecessary burdens for older Americans and families with children applying for basic needs programs, while freezing future benefit increases that help households adjust to rising food costs.