‘People Are Going To Die’: Lori Trahan Blows Up At RFK Jr. About Proposed Medicaid Cuts

Forbes Breaking News

At a House Energy Committee hearing on Tuesday, Rep. Lori Trahan (D-MA) questioned Sec. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. on proposed cuts to Medicaid.

Transcript

00:00The gentleman yields. The chair now recognizes the gentlelady from Massachusetts, Representative

00:05May Trahan, for five minutes of questioning. Thank you. Mr. Secretary, during your confirmation,

00:11you told Senator Barrasso that rural hospitals are closing at an extraordinary rate. You called

00:16them economic drivers, lifelines in our communities, and you gave your word to protect them.

00:22Republicans on this committee also promised they wouldn't support a bill that led to more

00:27closures. Yet here we are. The Republican tax bill slashes Medicaid and the ACA by over a trillion

00:35dollars, leaving 16 million more people uninsured and driving up uncompensated care. At the same time,

00:42it guts provider taxes and state-directed payments, the few tools that states have to keep hospitals

00:48afloat. Cutting coverage and cutting payments, well, that's a perfect storm for closures, Mr. Secretary.

00:56So yes or no, with Republicans in Congress set to cut more than a trillion dollars and counting

01:02from our health care system, will hospitals be forced to cut services or close altogether?

01:09We're not cutting coverage for any American patient.

01:13Well, it sounds like you don't want to admit the reality that your department is creating.

01:17I'm happy to explain if you want to give me a chance.

01:19Well, that's part of my next question. I want to hear what your funding mechanism looks like,

01:23because hospitals across the country have warned that this bill is what they referred to as a

01:28death knell, even before Republicans in the Senate doubled the cuts in provider taxes and state-directed

01:34payments, bringing estimates of hospital uncompensated care alone to more than $443 billion.

01:42Hospitals are raising a huge warning flag that the big, ugly bill will result in closures

01:48and service reductions across the country in all our communities.

01:53I ask unanimous consent to enter into the record several of their statements and analyses.

01:58Mr. Secretary, if you claim the hospitals in our districts that are already operating

02:04in the red and serving mostly Medicaid and Medicare patients are going to survive,

02:10then where exactly is that money going to come from?

02:12What is your plan to keep them open and deliver the same level of service?

02:18Well, the issue of state-directed payments, I think, as you understand, is a complicated

02:24one because the essential agreement under Medicare is that the states will pay a certain amount

02:31and the federal government will pay a certain amount.

02:35The states have learned to game that.

02:36Some states have learned to game that system.

02:38If you could just get to the part where when that revenue stream is cut, how are you going

02:45to ensure that services aren't cut and hospitals don't close?

02:49I mean, many times there's just no alternative on the table for a funding mechanism.

02:53So what's your plan?

02:55Well, that is a decision ultimately that's got to come from Congress.

02:59So that's going to be up to you.

03:00But what I would say to you is that I would like to work with you on this because it's a

03:05complicated issue.

03:06It's not just that it's not that simple.

03:09Are we going to...

03:10I'm happy to work with you on this, Mr. Secretary, but this is going to happen in the next couple

03:15of weeks.

03:16And if there isn't a funding mechanism in place, if there isn't an act of Congress to

03:21replace that revenue stream, hospitals are going to close.

03:25People are going to die.

03:26When hospitals are pushed to the brink, they cut maternity wards.

03:30They cut mental health.

03:31They cut emergency rooms.

03:33That's who they cut first.

03:34This isn't hypothetical.

03:35It's already happening.

03:37From 2011 to 23, dozens of hospitals in states like Iowa and Texas eliminated obstetrics entirely.

03:46These are Medicaid department services.

03:48And under Donald Trump's bill, they're the first to go.

03:51And it's not just rural hospitals.

03:53We're seeing it in my district, too.

03:55The only maternity ward in north-central Massachusetts shut down last year.

03:59Then the collapse of Steward forced two more hospitals to close, including one that served thousands

04:06of families.

04:07Boston Children's, one of the best in the country, is also at risk.

04:11Your budget slashes Medicaid, which covers over 40% of kids and eliminates programs that

04:18trains most pediatricians.

04:21Hospitals are already bracing.

04:22They're pausing projects.

04:24They're canceling expansions.

04:25They're shelving cost-saving investments.

04:28The chaos that your budget creates, including decimating NIH, is driving up costs.

04:34We're not cutting Medicaid.

04:36There's no cuts to Medicaid.

04:38There are simply restrictions in the growth of Medicaid over the next decade.

04:43People are going to lose their coverage.

04:45Uncompensated care is going to rise.

04:48Hospitals are not prepared for that reality.

04:52Look, here's the truth.

04:54People are going to die.

04:56These hospitals are going to close.

04:58Labor and delivery units are going to disappear.

05:00If mental health services are stripped away, that's the consequence of your policies.

05:06And look, you've already shown that you don't have a grip on your department.

05:09You don't know basic things that are on your website or programs that are closing.

05:14Gentle lady's time has expired.

05:15The chair now recognizes the general...

Category

Transcript

Recommended