Bernie Sanders Says 'Trump's Big Horrific Bill' Will Make Healthcare 'Crisis' Much Worse

Forbes Breaking News

At a press briefing on Wednesday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) spoke about healthcare after the passage of the Big Beautiful Bill.

Transcript

00:00uh thank you all very much for being here and uh i want to thank uh katie smith sloan who's the

00:10ceo of leading age which has some uh 5500 nursing homes all over the country for being with us i

00:18want to thank dick cato who is with the ag roads nursing homes in atlanta and i want to thank

00:26heather turbine uh pollard who is with the center circle adult day services in richmond

00:32virginia thank them all for the enormously important work they do for our seniors

00:37uh and thank them for being with us today and thank all of you for being here

00:41um it is no secret i think to anyone that the american health care system uh is broken it is

00:51dysfunctional and it is cruel today we have 85 million americans in the wealthiest country on

00:58earth who are uninsured or underinsured one out of four americans cannot afford to fill the prescriptions

01:05that their doctors prescribe our life expectancy is significantly lower than other wealthy nations

01:13some 60 000 americans die each year because they can't afford to get to a doctor on time

01:20and in fact we don't have enough doctors nurses dentists and other health care professionals

01:26meanwhile because of the greed of the insurance companies and the drug companies we are spending

01:33far far more per person on health care than the people of any other country we are now over 14 000

01:41for every man woman and child which is an insane number and totally unsustainable

01:47so what we have is a crisis in health care and trump's big horrific bill

01:56will make that crisis much worse it will throw 15 million americans off of the health care they

02:05presently have so instead of providing health care to all people throwing 15 million people off the

02:11health care it will raise insurance premiums for millions of people all over the country

02:16already paying sky high prices it could well cause the closure of many rural hospitals and community

02:24health centers all across our country all of whom were significantly dependent on medicaid funding

02:31it will also and the point of our discussion today

02:36it will also have a major impact on nursing homes in this country and that is an issue that has not

02:50gotten the kind of attention that it needs and that's why we are holding this event today

02:56according to a study commissioned by the department of health and human services

03:0170 percent of seniors in an aging country we are an aging country will need some kind of long-term

03:10care during their lifetimes this can include assistance with activities of daily life like eating bathing and

03:19dressing in some cases family members can provide this type of care but it requires from that family

03:27family member enormous time effort and skill and when you are dealing with horrific illnesses like

03:36dementia or alzheimer's it is also terrible stress on that family member and that is why families

03:48throughout the country seek our support through home health care providers through senior centers or nursing homes

03:57and let's be clear even before the implementation of trump's horrendous bill

04:05nursing homes and long-term health care providers were already struggling all right so it's not like

04:12we had a great situation uh we have a very bad situation which is only going to be made worse

04:19uh when you cut medicaid by over 900 billion dollars as this bill does nursing homes and long-term health care

04:29providers will be losing a major source of their revenue in other words you have institutions all across

04:38this country that are struggling today and now there's going to be a significant decline in their

04:44revenue we're going to be talking in a moment uh from our guests about what those cuts will mean

04:50uh according to a recent survey as a result of this legislation some 27 percent of nursing homes

04:58have indicated that they will be forced to close their doors and 58 percent will be forced to substantially

05:05reduce staff at a time when many nursing homes already grossly understaffed and under-resourced

05:14when it comes to home and community-based care the problem may be even worse because states aren't

05:20legally required to cover these services under medicaid states could cut benefits for long-term

05:26home care altogether and what does that mean for families across the country

05:32it means that people who need long-term care will probably rely on a family member to care for

05:40them and what that will do is put enormous stress on family members so right now i want people to

05:52appreciate this if you have a mom or a dad or somebody in your family who is in a nursing home

05:58or a home daycare center

06:01if that person can no longer be in that facility and has to be at home how does it impact you well

06:09guess what you're not going to work anymore you're going to stay home taking care of that family member

06:15and if you don't go to work anymore you're not having any income coming into your house and how does

06:20that impact people in our country sixty percent of whom are living paycheck to paycheck so this bill

06:28is a disaster in general it will be a disaster for nursing homes

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