Markwayne Mullin went on CNN this morning to lie some more about the Big Beastly Bill that denies healthcare to people who need it and don't have enough money to pay for it. Clearly he doesn't understand Medicaid, or he'd know that the "waste and fraud" he speaks of would be at the provider level, since no individual actually receives money. They just receive the healthcare they need, something that just absolutely frustrates Republicans who think healthcare is only for white people who speak good English. Or maybe Russians. I'm not sure about that.
The framing he engages in is just enraging, not only because it's a lie but because it dehumanizes people. And just as a reminder, CBO estlimates that nearly 11 million people will lose access to healthcare. 11 MILLION.
"We're not talking about people that deserve and qualify for Medicaid or Medicare," Mullin protested when pressed by Dana Bash. What we're doing is getting rid of the waste and fraud."
Let that sink in. People getting access to healthcare have to "deserve" it. They have to be worthy of something which is a basic human right. And worse, he's calling those people "waste and fraud."
But wait, there's more.
There's over six million people on Medicaid right now that do not qualify underneath current policies.
They didn't qualify underneath the Biden policies, but yet the Biden administration allowed them to come on, and they're robbing Medicaid blind, and therefore it's almost becoming unsustainable for those that actually deserve it.
Anybody that qualifies for Medicaid, they're not going to see a reduction in benefits.
They're not going to see a reduction in coverage.
All we're doing is removing the people that are frauding the American taxpayers out of health care.
ROBBING MEDICAID BLIND BY NEEDING HEALTHCARE? This is the perfect Republican attitude toward people. There are some who deserve, and some who don't, and they're the arbiter of all.
There was some back and forth with Dana Bash about the claim that they're not reducing or cutting Medicaid benefits, as if allowing Medicaid to pay for the things it currently pays for while denying people access to those benefits is not a cut to benefits. And then he threw down a challenge.
He actually said this: "The fact is, you can't point to anyone that's losing coverage that deserves and qualifies for the care."
I can. Here's an actual case where a person will not just lose coverage but also lose the right to buy insurance on the exchanges. A 25-year old gig worker with Type 1 diabetes who works 3 part-time jobs, none of which offer health insurance. The total income for this person is 110 percent of the federal poverty level for a single person. Under this bill, because they are a gig worker without a W-2 or pay stubs they are not qualified to receive Medicaid, a benefit they're receiving right now, which is keeping them alive.
So, let's review. An able-bodied young person who needs insulin to live and work is working 3 part-time jobs because that is what is available to them right now. This is a person who Mullin deems "undeserving" of healthcare, as if any HUMAN should be undeserving of health care.
And then to add insult to injury, Mullin added, "We're just getting rid of the waste and fraud."
As if people are ever "waste and fraud." And again, reader, Medicaid doesn't pay people directly. It pays providers. People are NEVER EVER "waste and fraud."
