Wyden slams Trump plan to ‘gut Medicaid’

Democrats demand president withdraw threats to cut programs

WASHINGTON (KTVZ) -- Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., issued a sharply critical statement Thursday after the Trump administration, led by Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma, announced new guidance for the Medicaid program that would hand states a playbook to implement block grants.

Wyden said this fixed amount will allow states to make cuts to their Medicaid programs that reduce benefits and limit access.

“Today’s announcement is the cruelest step yet by the Trump administration to slash American health care and dismantle basic safety net programs like Medicaid,” Wyden said. 

“When Republicans attempted to block grant Medicaid in Congress, they failed due to an outcry from families across the country over the consequences for children, seniors, individuals with disabilities and the millions of working families who rely on the program for essential health coverage.

"Now the Trump administration is pushing states to use a backdoor scheme to slash benefits and limit access to lifesaving health coverage in Medicaid through arbitrary block grants. This approach is a gross distortion of the Medicaid program and in defiance of congressional intent and the will of the American people, who simply want hassle-free, affordable health care for their families.

“Finally, the name ‘Healthy Adult Opportunity’ should be highlighted as a triumph of Orwellian branding. The only outcome of this program will be less health care for Americans who need it.”  

Wyden has long stood against attempts to undermine the Medicaid program through schemes like block grants or per-capita caps, according to a news release from his office.

In 2017, he led the fight against Republican attempts to gut Medicaid by rolling back the Medicaid expansion and capping and block granting the program.

Wyden said these draconian measures would have resulted in tens of millions of Americans losing access to essential health care. Recently, Wyden has criticized preliminary efforts by the Trump administration and Republican-led states to create block grants which would harm vulnerable Americans.

Meanwhile, Wyden and fellow Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley this week joined their Democratic colleagues in demanding Donald Trump retract the alarming threats he made last week concerning cutting earned benefits like Medicare or Social Security to pay for his tax scam, which has been a handout to corporations at the expense of workers.

“As a presidential candidate, you promised the American people that you would not cut Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid. In fact, you criticized your political opponents for failing to make the same promise. Not only have you broken that promise, you have waged an all-out assault on Medicaid,” the senators wrote. 

“Attempting to make up the trillion-dollar deficit created by your tax law on the backs of hard-working Americans would be a betrayal to all who consider these programs a lifeline. American workers who for decades have paid into Social Security and Medicare should not be forced to relinquish their health and retirement security to pay for your tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and largest corporations.”

Despite Republican claims that their scam bill was a tax cut for working people, it has proven to be nothing more than a giveaway to corporations and the wealthy, the lawmakers said in a news release.

It has also exploded the deficit – which Republicans have planned all along to use as their justification for cutting the benefits hard-working Americans have earned, the senators claimed.

Wyden. Merkley and their colleagues are demanding Trump publicly commit to protecting Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid for the remainder of his presidency.

Joining Wyden and Merkley in sending the letter are Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisc., Michael Bennet, D-Colo., Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Cory Booker, D-N.J., Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., Ben Cardin, D-Md., Bob Casey, D-Pa., Chris Coons, D-Del., Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., Richard Durbin, D-Ill., Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., Kamala Harris, D-Calif., Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, Tim Kaine, D-Va., Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Edward Markey, D-Mass., Bob Menendez, D-N.J., Patty Murray, D-Wash., Gary Peters, D-Mich., Jack Reed, D-R.I., Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., Bernie Sanders, D-Vt., Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., Tina Smith, D-Minn., Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., Tom Udall, D-N.M., Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.

A copy of the letter is available here.