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Donald Trump’s Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, is a hedge fund manager who has no clue what it is like to be without and not be able to afford health insurance.
On CNN’s State of the Union, Dana Bash said to Bessent, “The president promised that there would not be changes to Medicaid benefits. And putting a work requirement is, by definition, a change to benefits.”
Bessent argued that the people who will be losing their Medicaid should go get a job, “No, there are no change in benefits. There’s a change in requirements to get the benefits. And what we are doing, we are bringing back manufacturing jobs. We are bringing back working-class jobs. By securing the border, we have seen, already seen working class wages move up. So we are creating jobs. People can get off Medicaid and get a job that has good health care benefits, Dana.”
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There are some problems with Bessent’s suggestion. Thirty percent of US jobs don’t offer health insurance. Sixty percent of people who do have health insurance through their employer report struggling to pay medical bills, so the idea that employers offer good health insurance is more myth than reality.
The Trump administration and Republicans are pushing the lie that most people on Medicaid can work. 56% of Medicaid recipients are children, persons with disabilities, and the elderly.
Ninety-two percent of adults under age 65 and not disabled who are receiving Medicaid were already working full or part time.
People on Medicaid generally fall into four groups: children, persons with disabilities, seniors, or the working poor.
Since Republicans are taking away Medicaid from tens of millions of Americans, the reality is that people who don’t fit the Republican narrative of being “able-bodied and lazy” are going to lose their health insurance.
The Trump administration is lying about who is on Medicaid. These are not people who can get a job. Many of them are working at jobs that don’t provide health insurance.
A rich man is telling people who are struggling economically to work harder to get healthcare that may not be affordable or available to them, no matter how many jobs they work.
The Trump Medicaid cuts are built on a fundamental lie that is going to harm or even kill people by preventing them from receiving life-saving care.
What do you think about what Treasury Secretary Bessent said? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
