The nonpartisan Urban Institute estimates that between 2025 and 2035, about $467 billion less will be spent on Medicaid than would be spent than if Medicaid funding were to keep up with the expected rise in medical costs.
The states would have to make up the difference, but many won't want to or be able to.
One final major deception. Proponents of the bill say it would continue to protect people with pre-existing conditions. But the bill allows states to reduce insurance coverage for everyone, including people with pre-existing conditions.
So insurance companies could technically "cover" people with pre-existing conditions for the cost of, say, their visits to a doctor, but not hospitalization, drugs, or anything else they need.
The Senate bill only seems like a kinder, gentler version of the House repeal of the Affordable Care Act, but over time it would be even crueler.
Will the American public find out? Not if Mitch McConnell can help it.
He hasn't scheduled a single hearing on the bill.
He's shut out major hospitals, physician groups, consumer advocates and organizations representing millions of patients with heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and other serious illnesses.
McConnell thinks he's found a quiet way not only to repeal the Affordable Care Act but also to unravel Medicaid -- and funnel the savings to the rich.
For years, Republicans have been looking for ways to undermine America's three core social insurance programs -- Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security. The three constitute the major legacy of the Democrats, of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson. All continue to be immensely popular.
Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act is almost part of that legacy. It's not on quite as solid a footing as the others because it's still new, and some wrinkles need to be ironed out. But most Americans support it.
Now McConnell believes he can begin to undo the legacy, starting with the Affordable Care Act and, gradually, Medicaid.
But he knows he has to do it in secret if he's to be successful.
If this shameful bill is enacted, McConnell and Trump -- as well as every Republican senator who signs on -- will bear the burden of hundreds of thousands of deaths that could have been avoided, were they not so determined to make rich Americans even richer.
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