From the MADDOW BLOG: On keeping health care coverage affordable, the GOP's Steve Scalise gives away the game

[B.See]

The old razzle dazzle. Courtesy of Steve ("I didn't know they were Klansmen" ) Scalise:

On keeping health care coverage affordable, the GOP’s Steve Scalise gives away the game - MSNBC Speaker Mike Johnson said Republicans are ready for “thoughtful conversations” about the ACA’s future. That’s not, however, what the majority leader said.

As the ongoing government shutdown nears the two-week mark, the basic elements of the partisan dispute haven’t changed at all. Democrats are still fighting to protect the existing Affordable Care Act subsidies that are poised to expire, and Republicans are still responding that they’ll consider health care talks after the government reopens.

In relation to the ACA and the Covid-era subsidies that made coverage even more affordable for millions of American families, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise told reporters on Capitol Hill on Friday afternoon:

"It’s not worked for families. You don’t answer that by propping it up with hundreds of billions of dollars of insurance company subsidies. Why would you keep pouring billions more tax dollars into a sinkhole when you can find a better way? We actually are working on better alternatives right now to lower premiums for families. That’s where the focus should be, not propping up a failed product called Obamacare."

The Louisiana Republican added that, from his perspective, 90% of the House Republican conference sees the Affordable Care Act and its enhanced insurance subsidies as a failure.

CBO Report Confirms ‘Republicans Are Lying’ About Medicaid Cuts - Common Dreams Their plan would force the largest Medicaid cuts in American history—all to pay for more tax giveaways to billionaires,” said Democratic Rep. Brendan Boyle.

At a press conference last week, U.S. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise claimed Democrats are lying when they warn that Medicaid is in the Republican Party’s crosshairs.

“The word Medicaid is not even in this bill,” Scalise (R-La.) declared, waving the text of a budget resolution that House Republicans went on to pass over unified Democratic opposition.

But an analysis released late Wednesday by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) makes clear that deep cuts to Medicaid would be required under the House GOP resolution, which ... Donald Trump has endorsed.

That means Republicans would have to cut Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), or Medicare to achieve the $880 billion in spending reductions that the House budget resolution instructs the energy and commerce panel to impose between fiscal years 2025 and 2034.