I guess Democrats (and the MSM) will always pander to stupid and uninformed people, as did Democrat leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) when he used at least eight hours of his “magic minute” to further his attempt to buy votes.  There’s no filibuster in the House, but Jeffries essentially conducted one anyway.  He held the House floor with a marathon speech that delayed passage of the One Big, Beautiful Bill (OBBB).  He used the time to criticize the OBBB’s health care and food aid “cuts.”  He said it was an “immoral” bill.  He (and Democrats) maintains that 11.8 million people will lose their Medicaid coverage and will be left without health insurance if the BBB passed (which it did).

There are currently no requirements for Medicaid enrollment.  As Bill O’Reilly says, this fact lets many people “game the system.”  It also opens the door for the Democrats to spread their lies.

Democrats maintain that millions of people will be kicked off the Medicaid rolls.  That’s technically true.  What the Democrats won’t tell anyone is that the $1.1-trillion cuts in the Medicaid budget are aimed at the 11.8 million people who are

So what should Trump and Republicans now do?  Get the above facts out.

Here’s where things get difficult, because the MSM will hide, minimize, and outright lie about what the Democrats maintain.  As Karl Rove, deputy chief of staff to George W. Bush, suggests,Trump should use the advantages of the bully pulpit to go on offense, to explain what the OBBB actually accomplishes.  Rove suggests that Trump begin by exposing just what the Medicaid “cuts” accomplish and just what people the Democrats actually support:

Rove also suggests that Trump needs to explain the economics and tax provisions of the OBBB, and that it’s going to take time to see and feel the effects of the OBBB on the country’s economy and productivity.

The MSM sob stories have already begun.  The Chicago Sun-Times published on July 3, hours before the OBBB was passed, an article about anticipated food shortages and about how the OBBB is anticipated to affect people.  The article has an example of how the MSM lies to support Democrats.  A substitute teacher assistant for Chicago Public Schools (whatever that is) wasn’t able to land a job for the summer.  She now worries that her struggles to find work could cost her family the public health insurance and food assistance they need because her current hours may not be enough to satisfy work requirements in the OBBB.  Yet her concerns are contrary to the work requirement cited above.  All that person has to do is certify that she doesn’t refuse to work in order to continue to receive benefits.  Did the Sun-Times allay her fears, telling her about what’s actually required to continue to receive benefits?  No!  It worried her and article readers, thereby perpetuating Democrat lies.

Hospital closures?  An article released by the left-leaning Urban Institute says Medicaid provisions in the OBBB will reduce Medicaid payments to hospitals by $321 billion over ten years.  As a result, hospitals would see a $63-billion increase in uncompensated care.

Medicaid is financed by the federal government and by the states, with the federal government usually paying close to 70% of total costs.  States finance their share via multiple procedures, including state general funds and health care–related taxes (“provider taxes,” state-imposed fees on health care providers, such as hospitals, to help fund a state’s share of the Medicaid program).  Providers favor these taxes because they contribute to a state’s total spending on Medicaid.  The federal government matches state spending.  So higher provider taxes mean higher state spending on Medicaid.  That money ultimately goes back to providers in the form of increased Medicaid payment rates.  States must not directly or indirectly guarantee that the money will go back to providers, a concept known as “holding harmless.”  However, the federal government currently exempts states from the hold harmless requirement on taxes up to 6% of revenues from treating patients.  That limit is called the “safe harbor” limit.  The Senate version of the OBBB (couldn’t find passed version provision) reduces the safe harbor by 0.5% a year until the rate hit 3.5%.  

Got that?  Yeah, didn’t think so.  The entire hospital situation is complicated, because lawyers write that way, inventing terms, on purpose.

Democrats say that lowering provider taxes will create financial hardships for states that could result in reductions in Medicaid eligibility, lower provider payment rates, and fewer covered benefits.  They also say cuts can impact medical coverage and access for millions of Americans.  Hospitals may face financial pressure, leading to cuts in services, layoffs, and reduced investment. 

Why is this issue so important to Democrats?  Because they want all the people (layabouts, illegal aliens, not-eligibles) currently receiving Medicaid benefits to also receive hospitalization when and where required, at taxpayer expense. 

But here are two facts the Democrats won’t tell you. 

First, more than 100 rural hospitals have closed in the past decade.  That period includes the years that Sleepy Joe Biden was president and the Democrats were in power.  You’ll never hear the Democrats (or the MSM) mention that fact. 

Second, people often blame rural hospital closures on poor reimbursement rates from Medicaid.  Why?   Because just about every hospital loses money on Medicaid since reimbursement rates are low nationwide.  But rural hospitals are struggling not because they serve a large share of poor patients or elderly people on Medicaid.  Rural hospitals actually need higher compensation than urban hospitals because they have the same fixed costs, like 24-hour staffing, but have a lower volume of patients to cover those costs.  All the posturing in the world by the Democrats won’t change that fact.

Another sob story: At least one hospital that’s closing its doors is already blaming the OBBB.  Nebraska’s Community Hospital just announced the closure of a clinic in the rural southwest Nebraska town of Curtis, which serves 900 people locally.

One bright spot that the Sun-Times let slip through: The Chicago Brighton Park Neighborhood Council has already seen a decrease in the number of people it enrolls for programs like SNAP because people living in households with illegal aliens fear that enrollment could put their illegal alien relatives in danger of deportation.

Image: Hakeem Jeffries.  Credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.