The Republicans in Washington appear to be close to achieving one of their most longed-for goals: taking the axe — or more appropriately, the chainsaw — to Medicaid, the health insurance program for the poor, elderly, and disabled.
“We’re just getting rid of waste and fraud,” they say. And yet Medicaid has one of the lowest rates of overhead of any insurance program anywhere. If Republicans really wanted to get rid of waste, fraud, and abuse, they should start with the commercial mega-insurance companies.
And of course, they think that they can sneak these cuts through without very many people noticing. But they’re wrong.
Here’s a graphic based on data from the Kaiser Family Foundation that show how many people in different groups are covered by Medicaid. Scan those groups and check out the numbers:
- 63% of nursing home residents have Medicaid paying for some or all of their place to sleep and eat. Without Medicaid, they will be on the street, since they do not have the money to afford the nursing home themselves. (I have a relative in exactly this situation, so I know.)
- Out of all children in the U.S., 4 out of 10 are covered by Medicaid. The next time you look at an elementary class at recess, consider that out of every ten children playing on that playground, four of them are about to lose their health insurance.
- But wait – if you are looking at a class from a school in a poor area, that number climbs to 8 in 10. Almost all those children will have no health insurance if Republicans get their way.
And why are Repubs doing this? You know the answer: to give more money to the already-rich. That’s their driving goal. That’s always their driving goal: shred the safety net in order to give more money to the top 1%.
So, here’s the graphic. Feel free to copy it and share it all over. Perhaps we can get the word out that Medicaid is a critical part of our social safety net, and that it touches many more people than you might realize.
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