During Tuesday's House Democratic leadership press briefing, Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN) discused the consequences cutting Medicaid will have on American families.
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00:00Thank you. Many of the Republican lawmakers who have expressed skepticism or criticism about the current potential cuts to, you know, through the EMC committee, they have still, you know, admitted they're open to some sorts of cuts.
00:16Are there members that you think you can talk with to sign this who are open to no cuts? Like, is that a viable path for people who are open to signing this? Because most have said they're open to some sort of cut.
00:31Yes, you have members, including one in New York, in the Westchester suburbs, who has said clearly and unequivocally, he's not going to support any cuts to Medicaid benefits.
00:46Well, the easiest way to make sure that happens is to sign this discharge petition so that there's an up or down vote on the hands off Medicaid and SNAP legislation, which takes an existing law,
01:03the 1974 Budget Impoundment and Control Act, with an existing provision related to Social Security, and simply extends that to Medicaid and SNAP.
01:19Can I just say something? You know, I guess I'm getting a little angry. We're talking about Medicaid cuts, right? And we're saying, I'm going to, you're no longer going to be eligible for your health insurance.
01:29What does that mean, right? It means I don't have, I can't go see a doctor. I have to go to the emergency room if I get sick. And then what happens, right? That becomes uncompensated care. That person gets sicker.
01:43Ultimately, the federal government ends up paying more and you have a sicker society. Let's let, we're, you know, we're talking about real people here and real lives. This is just, you know, they can play all the numbers they want and say, this is this, this is what they say it's up to.
01:58The bottom line is it's going to make this country sicker and it's going to mean more cost to the federal government or the state or to, or to individual, to the other people that have health insurance.
02:07They're going to have to make up the difference for the uncompensated care. So these numbers game, the lies, the reality of what happens when people lose their health insurance and their Medicaid.
02:17I just wanted to mention, since rural development falls into the jurisdiction of the Ag Committee, folks are very concerned about the outsized impact in rural communities across our country to these Medicaid cuts,
02:34because a higher proportion of folks who live in rural communities across our country have Medicaid as their primary coverage.
02:43And so we are seeing inside our congressional office and inside the committee, a revolving door of health care organizations coming through to tell us that there is going to be a drastic impact on rural hospitals.
02:58If in fact, these Medicaid cuts come through and it's going to cause not just cuts to Medicaid folks, but all health care costs are going to go up.
03:10As Frank said, if Medicaid is cut by $880 billion and in a scenario where we're literally talking about cutting food security for people and health care for, for people, how in the world is this going to make America healthy again?
03:30This is only going to make America sicker and it's only going to hit the pocketbooks of Americans even more.
03:39So all of my Republican colleagues who represent incredibly rural districts across our country because of the mass gerrymandering in our nation,
03:47I have been talking to them and telling them publicly and privately that you really do have no idea the long-term impact in your communities.
03:58So many jobs in these rural communities come from our local hospitals and health care systems.
04:05This is going to be a shockwave through rural communities if they move forward with these plans.
04:11Last question.
04:12Yeah, I just wanted to.