Eva M. Clayton: “the Medicare cuts will hurt, but, for rural America, the Medicaid cuts will inflict unbearable pain. The majority…”

“the Medicare cuts will hurt, but, for rural America, the Medicaid cuts will inflict unbearable pain. The majority proposes to cut Medicaid by $182 billion. What do these cuts mean? They mean that my State will lose $6.76 billion in Medicaid funding over the next 5 years--882,000 Medicaid recipients will be affected in North Carolina and that number is growing. Almost 8 out of 10 of the 31,600 North Carolina nursing home residents are covered by Medicaid--who will take care of them at an average cost of $38,000 per year? Thirty-one thousand, three hundred seniors and other disabled people in North Carolina receive home care through Medicaid--who will pay for that? Nineteen percent, close to half a million of North Carolina's children, rely on Medicaid for their health care needs--these children are the poorest of the poor--who will help them? What will happen to families and spouses when incapacitated seniors go broke? This plan takes us back to the days when the whole family will be left with nothing when faced with unexpected, costly illness. Hurting our seniors, our indigent, and our disabled is not the way to balance the budget--in the end--it only hurts us all. Our seniors should grow old with grace, dignity, and security. Next week, let's reject this hastily done, insensitive, unthoughtful majority plan to take from the poor and give to the rich.”