FTP for TV stations of her remarks is available here.
“Republicans’ goal is to take Medicaid away from as many people as possible so they can pay for tax cuts for billionaires. It’s absurd and it’s un-American.”
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) spoke on the Senate floor to rake Republicans’ reconciliation bill over the coals for the devastating impact it would have on Nevadans’ health care. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates this bill would add $2.4 trillion to our national deficit and kick 16 million Americans off their health insurance, including nearly 100,000 Nevadans, all to pay for a tax giveaway to President Donald Trump’s billionaire friends.
Below are her remarks as prepared for delivery:
Mr. President, I’m joining my colleagues today to speak in opposition to Republicans’ catastrophic budget bill…that will end health care coverage for millions of American families…so that President Trump can orchestrate the largest transfer of wealth from the poor and working class to the ultra-rich that we have ever seen in this country.
This bill has nearly $1 trillion in health care cuts, including over $800 billion in Medicaid cuts. In total, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that this bill would not only add $2.4 trillion to our national deficit, but also kick 16 million Americans off their health insurance in the next 10 years.
In Nevada, that means about 95,271 people will lose their health care. 66,571 will be kicked off Medicaid.
These numbers alone should at least give my Republican colleagues pause; make them think about how devastating this bill would be for working families. And maybe reconsider moving forward with trying to ram it through Congress.
But there’s more to this than just these big numbers, and it needs to be brought to light.
I was just home in Nevada, meeting with hospitals and providers. With the Medicaid cuts they’re anticipating from this billionaire tax giveaway, hospitals are bracing themselves not just for coverage losses, but for the downstream impact on care and costs.
This is going to affect our most vulnerable populations in Nevada: seniors, children, veterans, parents of children with rare diseases, pregnant women, and our elderly in nursing homes.
When people lose coverage, they delay their care. A single mom who’s living paycheck to paycheck and is worried about putting food on the table for her kids isn’t going to go to the doctor if she has a persistent cough. She’ll wait.
But that means that when her cough turns serious, making it hard for her to breathe, she’ll have to go to the emergency room for treatment. By then, it’s more dangerous for her and more expensive for everyone involved.
The hospital she goes to has to treat her, regardless of whether or not she has health insurance. If she can’t pay, the hospital is on the hook for the cost of her care.
If you’re in a rural or underserved area – of which we have many in Nevada – and the one hospital for miles can’t afford to keep their doors open, it may scale back or close altogether.
Now the hospital staff has to choose which services to cut. Labor and delivery? Mental health care? Trauma units? These are services entire communities rely on.
Or will they be forced to close entirely if they can’t make up the costs?
In rural Nevada, people sometimes have to drive 2, 3, 4 hours to see their doctor. A hospital closure would be devastating for rural families trying to access even basic care. That’s the danger we’re facing with this bill.
This isn’t just about Medicaid patients. As providers look to cover the cost of treating more uninsured patients, those expenses will shift to everyone else. To working families and to employers. Premiums and out-of-pocket costs will soar.
All so President Trump and Republicans can pay for tax cuts for billionaires.
This is also going to impact Nevadans who rely on the Affordable Care Act for their medical insurance.
Republicans’ bill cuts almost $300 billion from ACA Marketplace Plans, which would kick about 29,000 Nevada small business owners, middle-class families, and legal immigrants like Dreamers off their health care.
It would increase Medicare premiums for over 1 million seniors and could end health care coverage for 1.5 million children. These are real people who are going to lose their coverage as a result of this bill.
And the impact would be lasting – this bill is so expensive that it would force Congress to make even more Medicare cuts in the future.
For those who don’t immediately get kicked off their health insurance as a result of cuts to Medicaid, my Republican colleagues want to implement burdensome work reporting requirements so they can take away coverage from even more Americans.
In Nevada, over 67% of Medicaid recipients are already working. But if this bill passes, they’ll have to jump through even more government reporting hoops to prove that they work.
We know from states that have tried this, like Arkansas, that people lost Medicaid not because they didn’t meet the requirement, but because they couldn’t keep up with the red tape.
This bill adds complex paperwork, frequent deadlines, and little flexibility to the everyday lives of hardworking mothers, veterans, and families across the country.
Why? Because the Republicans’ goal is to take Medicaid away from as many people as possible so they can pay for tax cuts for billionaires.
It’s absurd, and it’s un-American. We cannot accept this as our new normal.
My Democratic colleagues and I are going to continue to stand against this outrageous, dangerous bill. The American people deserve better.
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