[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Pages 1161-1162]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                MEDICAID

  Mr. SCHATZ. Mr. President, more than 50 years ago, when Medicaid was 
created, Congress made a smart decision. Lawmakers designed a program 
so that if health care costs rise, if the economy starts to struggle, 
Medicaid would be there for the American people, no matter what.
  A couple of days ago, the counselor to the President said that, as 
part of the replacement plan for the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid will 
be converted to block grants. Let's be clear about what this means.
  People like grants, and they like Medicaid. Maybe they are not sure 
about whether they like block grants. Whether intentional or not, this 
kind of technocratic, bureaucratic language can trick people. It sounds 
fine. Maybe it is even the smart thing to do.
  Let me be totally explicit about what block granting Medicaid 
actually means. It means cutting Medicaid. It means less money for 
Medicaid. It means less health care for people. It is a euphemism. It 
is not quite a lie, but it is a way of describing something so that you 
don't know exactly what it is. They are calling it a block grant 
because they don't want to say that they are cutting Medicaid.
  These cuts are going to hurt millions of people. They will hurt 
working families who rely on Medicaid to pay for nursing home care for 
their families. We have to be pretty out of touch to not know anyone 
who at some point in their life will rely on nursing home subsidies 
from Medicaid. It is happening in my extended family right now.
  It is important to remember that Medicaid certainly helps children. 
Medicaid certainly helps people who are economically disadvantaged. It 
helps poor people. But it also helps middle-class families, because at 
the end of a family member's life, who can pay for nursing home care 
out-of-pocket? You may have saved all of your life, but, for instance, 
in Hawaii a nursing home costs around $10,000 a month. So it is a rare 
family who can pay $10,000 a month for a grandmother or a great-
grandmother or a father or a mother. Nobody can do that. This is going 
to harm middle-class families.
  It is also going to hurt women in particular. Women need Medicaid for 
maternal health services and for family planning. These cuts are going 
to hurt seniors and people with disabilities. These people have nowhere 
else to turn. That is the point of Medicaid. Medicaid is their only 
option.

[[Page 1162]]

  Now, I have heard some people say: Well, this is going to expand 
local control. That is preposterous. The truth is that block granting 
Medicaid, which is the same thing as cutting Medicaid and giving a 
fixed amount to the States, gives States less control, not more 
control. They force States to choose between seniors and kids, between 
people with disabilities and women, or between health care and 
education.
  Look, it does not matter whom you voted for. American voters--left, 
right, and center--have this sense that what we do in Washington is 
that we run for office saying one thing and then we get in office and 
we do exactly the opposite. Frankly, the Congress has earned that 
reputation. This is another instance where a party has promised to not 
cut Medicaid, but here we are--week 1, day 5--debating cuts on this 
important program.
  This is a deal breaker for me and many of my colleagues, and it will 
be a disaster for millions of Americans.
  I call on everyone on both sides of the aisle to stand up for 
seniors, to stand up for women, to stand up for children, and to fight 
any cuts to Medicaid.
  I yield the floor.

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