Rick Allen: “on the issues we are debating tonight, Republicans can only see numbers on a page; they are blind to the people whose…”

“on the issues we are debating tonight, Republicans can only see numbers on a page; they are blind to the people whose interests they are sacrificing to protect tax cuts for the wealthy. This bill provides fewer services to fewer people. That is a cut. This Republican bill allows States to impose higher copayments and premiums on Medicaid beneficiaries who are on Medicaid precisely because they are poor. Take, for example, people who are chronically ill. Most people with diabetes, schizophrenia, Alzheimer's or other chronic conditions are dependent on multiple medications. Once you charge higher copayments for their medications, they will start to skip their drugs. Studies have shown that doubling copayments by the chronically ill will reduce their use of prescription drugs by 8 to 23 percent. When people on Medicaid can no longer afford their medicines, when they cannot afford to call a doctor, they do not disappear, they do not get well, they just get sicker or they go to the emergency room. The CBO has concluded that 80 percent of this bill's so-called savings from raising costs to beneficiaries comes from decreased use. In short, you are just taking health care away from people who need it. Moreover, you are cutting health care services to Medicaid beneficiaries and calling it reform. Immoral and inhumane would be better and more accurate words.…”