McConnell's Trumpcare plan roiled by CBO's report on dramatic Medicaid cuts

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The Congressional Budget Office's new numbers on how dramatically the Senate Republicans' plans for Medicaid would cut it is creating more turmoil among Senate Republicans. The CBO said that in the next ten years, Medicaid spending would be slashed by more than a quarter—26 percent, and in 2036, it would be reduced by more than a third—35 percent, relative to current law.

“That is going to cause a lot of harm, and that’s one of my biggest concerns about the bill,” Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine and a crucial holdout on the bill, told CNN after the release.

For Republican leaders who say Medicaid spending is unsustainable, the findings might be seen as evidence that their policies would work. They want to put annual caps on Medicaid spending and roll back the expansion of the program, which has extended coverage to millions of people in 31 states.

But for Republican senators from some of those states, including Nevada, Ohio and West Virginia, the pain of those cuts may prove politically untenable.

The $45 billion Collins and those senators squeezed out of McConnell for opioid treatment funding is looking even more paltry in light of this analysis. But that concession on opioids—and the talk of retaining taxes on capital gains to pay for it and other elements to shore up help for lower income Americans has pushed the far right further right. As far to the right as raising the issue of repeal without replace once again.

That repeal proposal has been shot down by other Republicans, but it shows just how chaotic things are now in the Republican conference, with some senators just flying off and freelancing in wild directions. McConnell's plan to have a revised bill today isn't happening, and senators are heading home. This is our best chance to stop this thing.

The end of Medicaid as we know it? No exaggeration. The Senate version of Trumpcare has worse long-term cuts to Medicaid than the House version, to pay for tax breaks to the wealthy. Call your Republican senator at (202) 224-3121, and give them a piece of your mind. Tell us how it went.

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