Oh, the Places We’ll Go
As reports suggest that Senate Republicans are reaching agreement on stopping Medicaid expansion (we must depend on “reports” since Mitch McConnell is holding no public hearings
on the AHCA bill), commentary has focused on how the cuts will devastate younger, poorer Americans. All true, but generally unmentioned is the fact that two thirds of Medicaid spending goes to older and disabled Americans, largely to those who must spend down much of their assets before Medicaid will cover their nursing home costs. In total, the AHCA would hammer the most vulnerable among us as it shifts huge tax cuts to the wealthy.
But let’s shift our focus from the moral atrocities of Trumpcare to the most crass considerations. After all, the “greed is good” creed of the 90s is getting new life after November, 2016. One in three Americans, currently, will need nursing home care. That means, Trumpcare supporters, that you or someone in your family might well turn to Medicaid eventually. If it’s your mother, you will watch as she depletes her savings before Medicaid intervenes, if it does. What will be left of your inheritance pot under new guidelines? Worse, will you also be forced to spend from your own accounts to give her decent care? If the one in the bed is you, you can spend your last days worrying about how your very existence is diminishing your children’s prospects for a good life.
Bottom line: your bottom line could be smashed by Trumpcare. Oh, the places we’ll go to sacrifice for the greater good of the wealthy.
Publishing history
Southern Dut. News 6/28
Kingston Freeman 6/27
NP Times 6/29
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