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Dear Editor,

Recently, House Republicans approved the broad outline of their major legislation for this year, which includes $4.5 trillion in tax cuts and $2 trillion in spending cuts. To get there, the Energy and Commerce Committee was charged with finding $880 billion in cuts — something would be impossible to do without slashing Medicaid, now the single-largest health insurance program in the US. Vox, 3/7/2025

Trump on Medicaid, “We’re not going to touch it.” 3/2025

These two quotes, taken together, point out the problem with Medicaid. They both can’t be true simultaneously.

The main goal of Congressional Republicans is to extend the Trump 2017 tax cuts that are set to expire this year. Who benefits from these tax cuts? You will not be surprised to learn that almost all of the cuts go to the extremely wealthy (billionaires) and corporations. In fact, the Trump tax cuts were largely responsible for the $9 TRILLION budget deficit that Trump ran up in his first term. This amounted to almost 25% of our total budget deficit at the end of his first term. The problem for Republicans is that they need to cut $880 Billion from current spending to continue the tax cuts for the wealthy.

As noted above, they cannot do it without cuts to Medicaid.

Medicaid provides health insurance to 70 million Americans (almost half are children) and is crucial for hospitals (particularly rural hospitals) and long term care facilities, i.e., nursing homes. With the kind of cuts necessary to fund the tax cuts, people and facilities that depend on Medicaid will be badly hurt. Many of the hospitals and nursing homes will disappear. People who use the facilities and the staff that work there will lose services and jobs. All to benefit the very wealthiest.

Republicans say that they will only cut, “Waste, fraud and abuse,” but all of those costs combined will not even get close to the $880 billion that Republicans need. They will have to cut Medicaid to the bone.

America is the richest country in the history of the world. I believe that cutting life saving services to the poorest amongst us is immoral. Especially since the benefits go to people who are already comfortable.

I have been contacting my elected representatives to ask that they not abandon people in need. I am asking any who agree with me to do the same. To do nothing, I believe, is to be complicit in the suffering of the least of these among us.

Dr. Paul A. Haupt

3/21/25

Menominee