Rachel Maddow Shows How The New GOP Health Plan Will Devastate 75 Million Americans

Rachel Maddow explained just how devastating the newly unveiled Republican health care legislation would be for tens of millions of Americans, outlining how the Senate bill makes drastic cuts to the nation’s number one insurer: Medicaid.

Maddow pointed out that 75 million Americans could be hurt by the cuts, noting that nearly half – 49 percent – of all births in the country are covered by Medicaid, as well 76 percent of all poor children.

Video:

To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.

Not only, as the MSNBC host pointed out, would it hurt newborn babies and low-income children, but it could hurt adults with disabilities (30 percent covered by Medicaid), children with disabilities (60 percent covered by Medicaid), and children in general (39 percent covered by Medicaid).

Oh, and let’s not forget that nearly 2 million U.S. veterans are covered by Medicaid, as VoteVets noted in a tweet earlier today.

Maddow slammed the GOP legislation’s cuts: “Seventy-five million Americans all have the same health insurance (Medicaid), and the big health bill that the Republicans unveiled in the Senate today takes a meat ax to that health insurer.”

Despite the millions of Americans who rely on this insurance – despite the fact that many of them are disabled people or children – the newly revealed GOP health plan, which is supported by Donald Trump, makes even deeper long-term cuts to Medicaid than the original House plan.

This is may be political suicide for Republicans in the Senate, but even if they pass this legislation, they’ll still go to bed at night not having to worry about losing their health insurance.

The same can’t be said for millions of Americans – the 20 percent of the U.S. population that relies on Medicaid – who need this coverage to survive.

Sean Colarossi

Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.