Appearing on Jake Tapper’s CNN show Wednesday afternoon, Illinois Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth gave a blunt assessment of Donald Trump and Republicans for the draconian Medicaid cuts they’re attempting to make to Medicaid, dubbing them the “we’re all going to die anyway” party.
She also mocked the GOP’s attempt to mitigate one of the more serious effects of those cuts, comparing them to an arsonist who then calls for the creation of a fire department.
At issue is the Senate budget bill that will likely throw more than 7 million people off of Medicaid, leading to thousands of unnecessary deaths, according to the Annals of Internal Medicine. The cuts would also drastically reduce funding for rural hospitals which would lead to widespread closures.
After the latter problem was pointed out, some GOP senators are proposing the establishment of a separate fund specifically for rural hospitals, instead of backing off the cuts themselves. Critics say that plan wouldn’t solve the problem and would likely make seeking medical care more onerous for rural residents, Duckworth among them.
“As these negotiations continue, Senate Republicans are debating a $15 million stabilization fund for rural hospitals to help offset some of the concerns about what the bill does do Medicaid what do you think of that suggestion?” Tapper asked Duckworth.
“Well, it’s like the person setting the fire saying, ‘Hey, you know what, we need a fire department’ when you’re the one who set the fire to begin with. These hospitals are going to shut down, 30% of our safety net hospitals are goning to shut down if these Medicaid cuts go through. And by the way, for a party that says they want smaller government, they seem to be creating more goverbment bureaucracy. So they’re going to start a new fund with more bureaucracy about it, that hospitals have to apply to get this money?” Duckworth said.
“And by the way, that doesn’t help the hundreds of thousands of Illinoisans who are going to get kicked off of Medicaid. This will help the hospitals, maybe, if they can process through the paperwork and get this fund setup. But what does it do to the mom who is trying to make sure that she can take her kid to the emergency room for care? What does it do to the pregnant woman, one of the 40% of all births in this country are covered by Medicaid, what does it do for that person?” she continued.
“So this is not a fix, this is just a fig leaf that they are trying to put out there to try to distract the American people. Bottom line, 30% of our safety net hospitals will shut down. Many times, these are the last remaining hospitals in a tri or quad-county area. They’re also the largest employer in the area. You’re going to see people die,” she added. “Americans did not vote for the ‘we’re all gonna die anyway’ party, but that’s what they’re getting from Donald Trump and his Republican allies.”
Watch the whole clip below:
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