For some unknowable reason, CNN held a town hall with Health and Inhumane Services Secretary Tom Price last night where he was asked why he wants to kick people off Medicaid.
A cancer survivor in the audience asked Price why he wants to take away the only thing keeping him alive, and Price responded by lying to his face.
“The fact of the matter is we don't. We don't want to take care away from anybody. What we want to make certain, though, is that every single American has access to the kind of coverage and care that they want for themselves,” Price said, emphasizing that he was pleased [Brian Kline of Pennsylvania] — who is in remission — could get the care he needed.
As you know, even the White House estimated that 26 million people would lose their coverage under Trumpcare, including millions of people who depend on Medicaid. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that 24 million would lose their coverage. And that's inevitable under a bill that would cut Medicaid by over $800 billion.
Asked whether he thought the HHS secretary answered his question, Kline said, “Unfortunately, no, I don’t believe he did answer my question, Wolf, because, according to my knowledge, the American Health Care Act under the Republican leadership bill is going sunset Medicaid I believe in 2020. Now of course You have the conservative republicans who want to sunset it eve sooner, so this is not going to help me.”
Kline is correct but, it may be even worse than that. Speaker of the Lizard House Paul Ryan signaled last night that he may be willing to move Medicaid's death up to 2018, two years earlier than his original proposal. Trump and the White House, including Tom Price, seemingly support moving the date up.
It's quite clear that average people who depend on coverage provided under Obamacare know how the law works better than the Republicans who want to dismantle it. Of course Republicans in Congress and men like Tom Price, who is a former congressman, are provided healthcare by the federal government and they don't have to worry about any of this. And most of Trump's cabinet are obscenely rich people who collectively have more wealth than a significant portion of the entire country combined.
It stands to reason that a significant number of the angry constituents voicing their concerns at town halls across the country are, in fact, Republican voters. Widespread analysis has shown that voters in states carried by Trump in 2016 will be hit the hardest by Trumpcare.
Tom Price can spew as many talking points as can be stored in his lizard brain. Literally no one is fooled by it. For Christ's sake, the strongest opposition to Trumpcare is coming from conservatives who believe kicking 24 million people off their coverage isn't nearly painful enough. Their desires are not a secret.