Sen. Casey, Senate Dems to Secretary Price: Tell Truth About Medicaid Decimation

WASHINGTON, June 7 -- The office of Sen. Robert Casey Jr., D-Pa., issued the following news release:

Today, U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging, led a group of 14 senators in calling on Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Tom Price to stop misleading the public about the negative impacts of President Trump's budget and the Republican Healthcare Plan on Medicaid protections.

"We are alarmed by the repeated false statements you have made regarding the American Health Care Act, particularly related to the effect that it would have on millions of vulnerable Americans who rely on Medicaid for their coverage or to cover the health care services delivered to a family member," the Senators wrote.

Despite clear evidence to the contrary, Secretary Price falsely claimed that, "there are no cuts to the Medicaid program." The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recently reported that the Republican Healthcare Plan would cut Medicaid by more than $800 million over ten years and lead to 14 million fewer people receiving Medicaid protections. The president's proposed FY 2018 budget would cut Medicaid by as much as $1.3 trillion.

Medicaid is designed to make health care affordable for our most vulnerable--children, seniors, veterans and those with disabilities. It protects one in three children and helps those with disabilities live independently and work outside the home, and is crucial in the fight to slow the opioid epidemic.

The following senators also signed on to the letter: Ron Wyden (D-OR), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Al Franken (D-MN), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Jack Reed (D-RI), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Cory A. Booker (D-NJ), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Edward J. Markey (D-WA), Patty Murray (D-WA).