Now, despite those improvements, everyone knows that the Affordable Care Act is far from perfect. Premiums in Vermont and around the country are too high, deductibles are too high, co-payments are too high, and too many remain uninsured and under-insured. But, in each and every one of these very legitimate concerns, the Republican legislation that has brought forward would only make a bad situation much, much worse.
Our job now is to improve the Affordable Care Act, not destroy it. Our job is to lower deductibles, lower co-payments and lower the outrageously high costs of prescription drugs. Further, instead of throwing 23 million Americans off of health care, we should be fighting to join the rest of the industrialized world and guarantee healthcare to all people as a right not a privilege. And, in order to accomplish that, as soon as we defeat this terrible Republican proposal, I will be introducing a Medicare-for-all, single-payer bill which will do just that.
I want all of you to take a moment to think about the implications of this bill and what it means if you, your child or your parent loses the health care that one of you has. Think about it for a moment.
What does it mean if you are suffering today with cancer, heart disease, asthma, or diabetes -- and you have no health insurance? You had health insurance but it was suddenly taken away from you. What happens to you when you cannot afford to go to the doctor when you are sick or buy the medicine that you need? What happens if you have a heart attack or a stroke and you have no insurance?
And the horrible and unspeakable answer is that if this legislation were to pass many thousands of our fellow Americans will die and many more will suffer and become much sicker than they should. That's not Bernie Sanders talking. That's what study after study after study shows.
Several weeks ago, after I made that point on a TV show, I was criticized by Republicans and right wing critics. PolitiFact, a non-partisan group that checks out what public officials say, took a look at over ten different studies on the issue of mortality rates and lack of insurance coverage and concluded that what I said was well supported. Obviously, nobody can tell you exactly how many people will die if they lose their coverage. What experts at the Harvard School of Public Health estimate, however, is that if 23 million are thrown off of health insurance, as the House bill does, up to 28,000 could die every year -- nine times more than the tragic loss of life on 9/11 -- each and every year. In the wealthiest country in the history of the world, we must not allow that to happen.
Let me tell you what happens when you cut Medicaid by over $800 billion nationwide over a 10-year period and by $47 billion in Kentucky.
The Children
What it means is that if you are child with a severe disability you will no longer get the health care that you need to adequately function. An estimated 11 million children, or 15 percent of all children in the U.S., have special health care needs. They may have conditions such as Down's syndrome, cerebral palsy, Muscular Dystrophy or autism. They may have mental health needs such as depression or anxiety, or complications from premature birth. Today, Medicaid and CHIP cover 5 million, or 44 percent of these children, providing them with coverage so that many of them can live in dignity and security.
In Kentucky, Medicaid and CHIP cover 40 percent of all children, including 52 percent of children with special health care needs. In addition to standard health care services, Medicaid helps these children get special education at school, long-term care, personal assistance from nurses and attendants, and may cover technology that helps them thrive.
If Medicaid is cut, children with special health care needs could be left to fend for themselves. Nearly 75 percent of children with special health care needs live in low or middle income families. What happens to these kids and their families?
Further, it is not just the disabled kids who will suffer, it's the whole family. If parents cannot get the help they need to take care of their kids, they might have to reduce their work hours or stop working altogether in order to stay home with their child, further driving them into poverty.
What kind of country are we when anyone could think about cutting help to disabled kids in order to give tax breaks to billionaires?
The Elderly
But, it's not just children who will suffer if this bill is passed. It is the elderly. What every person in Kentucky should understand is that Medicaid now pays for over two-thirds of all nursing home care. What happens to the nearly 20,000 seniors and persons with disabilities in Kentucky who have their nursing home coverage paid for by Medicaid today? Who will pay for their care if Medicaid is slashed? How many seniors now in nursing homes will get thrown out on the street or be forced to live in their children's basement? How many middle class and working class families will have to now choose between taking care of their parents or sending their kids to college?
But it's not just nursing home care that will be severely impacted. Remember. Donald Trump told the American people that he was going to be a friend of the working class.
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