Senator Tammy Baldwin's office issued this press release today:
***MEDIA RELEASE***
For Immediate Release
Friday, May 26, 2017
(202) 224 – 6225
U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin to President Trump on Proposed Medicaid Cuts: America's Veterans Deserve Better
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin
wrote to President Trump raising
grave concerns about his plans to gut Medicaid funding and slash
investments in behavioral health research, and the impact on America's
veterans.
About
35,000 veterans in Wisconsin and nearly two million veterans across the
country rely on Medicaid for their health coverage. The American Health
Care Act, passed by
the House of Representatives, would slash Medicaid by $834 billion and
eliminate the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion, the mechanism
through which 340,000 veterans receive health coverage. The budget
proposed Tuesday by President Trump would impose
additional Medicaid cuts of more than $610 billion, putting the health
of veterans, their families, and millions of other Americans at risk.
The
letter urging President Trump to consider the repercussions for
veterans who depend on Medicaid was also signed by Senators Elizabeth
Warren (D-MA), Patty Murray (D-WA),
Jack Reed (D-RI), Bill Nelson (D-FL), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Bernie Sanders
(I-VT), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Bob Casey (D-PA), Sheldon Whitehouse
(D-RI), Tom Udall (D-NM), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Al Franken (D-MN),
Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI),
Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Cory Booker (D-NJ),
Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Catherine Cortez Masto
(D-NV) and Gary Peters (D-MI).
“Your proposed cuts to Medicaid and your efforts to take away people's health coverage are inconsistent
with the promises you made to America's veterans. They deserve better,” wrote the senators.
“We urge you to consider the impacts that gutting Medicaid would
have on the lives and health of those who have sacrificed so much in
service to our nation.”
“The
Medicaid cuts being proposed by Republicans and Donald Trump are not
only unconscionable but also represent a monumental lie to all of
America -- particularly Trump
voters -- who were told that Medicaid cuts would not happen if he was
elected," said Will Fischer, Director of Government Relations for VoteVets.
“These cuts would impact nearly 2 million veterans who are on Medicaid,
representing one out of every 10
veterans. It tells you everything you need to know about who Donald
Trump and Republicans value to see them try and rip health care away
from millions of veterans, just so they can give sweetheart deals to
their millionaire and billionaire buddies.”
Veterans
experience higher rates of substance use disorder and post-traumatic
stress disorder, but President Trump's budget strips nearly $400 million
from the Substance
Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the federal agency
that helps communities fight the opioid epidemic. These decreases are
compounded by 20 percent funding cuts to the National Institute of
Mental Health and the National Institute on Drug Abuse,
which support research for treating substance use disorder,
post-traumatic stress disorder, and traumatic brain injuries.
Dear President Trump:
We
are writing to express our grave concern about the impact that your
proposed cuts to Medicaid would have on America's veterans and their
access to health care. During
your campaign and since you assumed office, you have repeatedly
promised to “get our veterans the care they need wherever and whenever
they need it.” Preserving Medicaid is essential to keeping this promise.
While many veterans can get health care through
the Department of Veterans Affairs, nearly two million veterans - one
out of every ten - rely on Medicaid for health coverage.
Your
budget proposal and support for the American Health Care Act (AHCA) do
not live up to your promise to ensure that veterans have access to the
care they need. The AHCA
would repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), ripping away care from 23
million Americans and slashing Medicaid by $834 billion. Because of the
ACA, the uninsured rate for veterans decreased by almost 40 percent, and
340,000 of the veterans now enrolled in Medicaid
receive coverage through the ACA's Medicaid expansion, which the AHCA
would eliminate. Your FY2018 budget proposes over $610 billion in
additional cuts to Medicaid. These "draconian" cuts to the nation's
social safety net are an "assault" on veterans and their
families - and on millions of other Americans.
Although
your proposed budget would gut many programs important to veterans,
including student loan funding, nutrition assistance, and disability
payments, cuts to Medicaid
would be particularly devastating. In addition to physical health
problems, such as chronic pain and traumatic brain injury (TBI),
veterans struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and
substance use disorder (SUD) at higher rates than the general
population. Your budget states that it would "increase the focus on
serious mental illness," but it strips nearly $400 million away from the
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and
flat-funds key initiatives for fighting the
opioid epidemic. To make matters worse, you also want to slash funding
for the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Institute
on Drug Abuse by 20 percent, cutting them by $301 million and $210
million, respectively. These institutes provide
crucial support for research and development on TBI, PTSD, and SUD.
Your
proposed cuts to Medicaid and your efforts to take away people's health
coverage are inconsistent with the promises you made to America's
veterans. They deserve better.
We urge you to consider the impacts that gutting Medicaid would have on
the lives and health of those who have sacrificed so much in service to
our nation.
Sincerely,
An online version of this release is
available here.
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