Van Hollen on Morning Joe: Trumpcare Would be a Disaster for Trump Voters

March 9, 2017

Contact: Bridgett Frey - (202) 228-0668

Van Hollen on Morning Joe: Trumpcare Would be a Disaster for Trump Voters

"The people who are being appointed to the Trump cabinet -- the millionaires and billionaires -- they're going to do just great. But everybody else in the country takes it on the chin."

Washington, DC - Today U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen joined MSNBC's Morning Joe to discuss Trumpcare's betrayal of President Trump's promises. Excerpts of the interview are below:

"I think we now know why they kept this secret for so long. And I think you've just put your finger on what Americans are going to be most surprised about in this so-called Obamacare replacement, which are these huge tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans - the Joint Tax Committee says $600 billion of tax cuts. If you're in the one-tenth of one percent you're going to get an average tax cut of $200,000. If you're a millionaire, you're going to get a tax cut around $50,000. They even put in a provision here that provides tax cuts for the bonuses that insurance companies pay to their CEO's. So you add all that up to $600 billion and yes, the people who are being appointed to the Trump cabinet -- the millionaires and billionaires -- they're going to do just great. But everybody else in the country takes it on the chin, and it's bad for health care in America. This is not what Donald Trump talked about on the campaign trail."

"I think it's beginning to break up from all sides, and the more people take a look at this the more they're asking the questions that we're talking about this morning. In other words, these tax breaks are not what the conversation was about. And at the same time, you're seeing folks who are going to be losing their access to health care because they can't afford it. You know, the AARP - they sometimes weigh in on these issues, but they very rarely come out full throttle against something. But if you're over 50 years old you're going to be paying lots more for your health insurance, and if you're somebody who has disabilities -- the whole disability community is rallying against this because of the cuts to Medicaid."

"And, by the way, the Medicare actuaries have now told us that when you give that particular tax break to wealthy people, you're actually going to take three years off of the life of the Medicare Trust Fund because a portion of those revenues were going to help strengthen the Medicare Trust Fund. Now, Donald Trump said he wasn't going to touch Medicare, but that's what he's doing."

"It is just baffling because it is a total disconnect between what Donald Trump ran on. And I can tell you in the rural areas of Maryland, the rural hospitals are screaming that this is going to absolutely devastate them, particularly the cuts in the long-term to Medicaid, but also the fact that the Affordable Care Act benefits right now help people with opioid addiction and substance abuse. Those benefits are finally making some difference in these rural areas, as well as the urban and suburban areas. And those are exactly the people that Donald Trump went to during the campaign and were saying that nobody was listening to them."