Congressman Cramer’s Bill Would Leave 3,000 ND Vets Without Health Care

BISMARCK, N.D., May 31 -- The North Dakota Democratic-NPL Party issued the following news release:

Yet another nonpartisan report out this week shows the devastating impacts of the Republican health care bill for veterans in North Dakota. According to the report issued by Families USA, a national health advocacy group, about 3,000 North Dakota veterans would likely lose health insurance if the legislation championed by Congressman Kevin Cramer becomes law.

"Once again, Kevin Cramer says one thing and then does another - this time, it's trying to take away health care from veterans who have put their lives on the line to defend us," said Democratic-NPL executive director Robert Haider. "If Cramer's bill becomes law, 3,000 men and women who have served and sacrificed for our country would likely lose their health coverage. Jeopardizing health care for veterans is the wrong approach for North Dakota."

The Families USA report points out that Medicaid, which would be cut by $880 billion under the Republican health care bill, is a critical source of health coverage for our nation's veterans. Across the country, roughly 1.75 million veterans rely on Medicaid for their care, including 3,000 veterans who live right here in North Dakota. According to the report:

"About 340,000 veterans nationally receive coverage through the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) Medicaid expansion. Most of these veterans would likely lose that coverage if Congress passes the Republican proposal to slash funding for the Medicaid expansion.

Republicans in the House of Representatives have also proposed to radically change the structure of the Medicaid program by capping and cutting funding--a blow to the Medicaid program that would put the health care of 1.75 million veterans at risk."

"When it comes to protecting health care for our citizens, Kevin Cramer is clearly looking out for his own interests, rather than the interests of North Dakota's veterans and working families," added Haider.

Background:

GOP health care bill cuts $880 billion from Medicaid, in addition to $600 billion cut in Trump's budget: The cuts include: All $880 billion in Medicaid cuts included in the Republican health plan that has passed the House, plus $610 billion in additional cuts due to adopting an even stingier formula for increasing Medicaid funding year over year. This amounts to a total cut to Medicaid of over 47 percent. [...] The Trump budget would literally cut Medicaid in half by the final year.

Cramer has a history of using veterans to further his political ambitions: You may recall in 2014 when Cramer unethically used the Veterans Cemetery in North Dakota for a campaign ad in his race against George Sinner. The ad used veterans' headstones as if they were props and threatened funding for the cemetery. Cramer later took down the ad from TV after increased pressure but would not apologize for his distasteful act [...] Cramer used veterans for political campaign purposes similar to the way he has used political talking points against Obamacare to win elections. Unfortunately after winning, he has decided his campaign against Obamacare was more important than his campaign for veterans. In his rush to repeal and replace Obamacare, he knowingly made it more difficult for millions of American veterans to afford access to healthcare outside of the VA he claims to despise.