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Floor Speech
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Ms. BALDWIN. Mr. President, I rise today on behalf of the 228,000 Wisconsinites whose healthcare is on the chopping block if Republicans get their way.
At a time when Wisconsin families are asking us to take on the skyrocketing costs of healthcare and prescription drugs, Congressional Republicans are doing just the opposite. My Republican colleagues are not using their time and energy to go after greedy corporations, not to take on the big drug companies, and not to expand access to affordable healthcare, but they are instead forging ahead with a bill that will kick millions of Americans off of their insurance and jack up the cost of healthcare for millions more.
I keep hearing my colleagues falsely claim that we are exaggerating how horrible this plan is for working families. They want to pretend these cuts are just going after waste, fraud, and abuse.
I am not here to engage in a ``he said, she said'' about this. The Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan analyst, released a new report today and found that the Republican plan will result in 16 million Americans losing their healthcare. That means that those last- minute changes that were made in the middle of the night in the House resulted in 2 million more people being kicked off their healthcare. Of those 16 million, nearly 150,000 Wisconsinites will lose their Medicaid coverage.
Sadly, it doesn't stop there. This bill is yet another attempt to chip away at the Affordable Care Act. In my State, over 80,000 Wisconsinites will be priced out of their affordable care, and more will see their marketplace coverage costs skyrocket.
We are talking about children with disabilities, grandparents, working families, and so many more whose healthcare is literally right now in jeopardy.
I heard from Annette in Kenosha, WI. She has three children, including a sixth grader with severe special needs. She wrote to me about her daughter Maya's first year before they got access to Medicaid. She said:
We paid $16,000 out-of-pocket after insurance for her hospital bills, surgery, and appointments. It destroyed our savings and pushed us to the brink of losing everything. Medicaid is not fraud, waste, or abuse. Medicaid supports kids like Maya who are in desperate need, and the families who love them.
She told me that she doesn't plan to stay on Medicaid forever, but that program ``has been a Godsend to us [right] now. It was a rigorous process to qualify. I hope other families like mine will have the support they need to keep their families healthy.''
I also heard from Evan in Madison, WI, who has undergone two brain surgeries and subsequent radiation over the last 10 years to treat brain tumors, in part paid for by Medicaid. He wrote to me:
I sacrificed a lot to hopefully become a part of the working class. . . . [I]f Trump meddles any further with my health care, I won't be able to afford my medication that literally gives me the ability to go out and be a part of my community.
Take Kevin in De Pere, WI, whose 19-year-old son has Down syndrome and relies on Medicaid for care. Kevin had a message for my colleagues who are considering advancing any cuts to Medicaid. He wrote:
I ask that you remember that Medicaid . . . is not about dollars, it's about dignity, opportunity, and ensuring that all individuals, regardless of ability, can thrive.
For Americans like Kevin and Annette and Evan, Medicaid is a lifeline. Without it, millions of families would forgo their care or face almost certain financial ruin. But congressional Republicans are putting all of that on the line, making Americans jump through more hoops and ever more redtape to access their lifesaving care. And why? To kick enough eligible people off Medicaid to pay for their tax cuts that overwhelmingly benefit corporations and their special interest donors--the very same corporations that jack up the cost of healthcare on Americans in the first place.
As deep as these cuts are, they fall far short of the total cost of the handouts that the Republicans are proposing in the form of tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations. Their plan won't just kick 16 million Americans off their health insurance or 4 million Americans off of food assistance, the Republicans' plan will also balloon the deficit by $3 trillion over the next decade.
While Republicans spend the rest of their summer figuring out how to pass their agenda that puts their campaign donors and corporations ahead of working families, I will keep raising the alarm bells about the real Wisconsinites whose health and lives are in the balance if they get their way.
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