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Yvette Kuhns's avatar

I've been an unpaid caregiver for my disabled parents and disabled husband. We live on my husband's Social Security retirement income and he has Medicare. I am 56 years old and rely on Medicaid for my prescriptions and healthcare. My 73 year old husband gets Extra Help to help pay for his prescriptions and plan D premiums. If I lose healthcare, I won't be able to help everyone else because I need my asthma, arthritis and other medications. The Republicans think people from 18 to 64 should work but some people are caregivers for disabled people. And some are parents who don't make enough money to afford childcare. This is unfair.

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Jess Craven's avatar

It is indeed.

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I Hate this Timeline's avatar

I didn't think they want people to work. Women stay home when me men work. Ozzy and Harriet with elders as those cared for by Harriet.

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Christine Hey's avatar

Andrea was very informative and made me feel like we could keep this from happening! I talked with a live person at Susan Collin's office and she promised she'd let her know....

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Jess Craven's avatar

Good, Christine! I truly believe we can stop this!

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Dianne Bryant's avatar

This is horrible!!! It’s the GOP bringing it upon the citizens of the USA

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Jess Craven's avatar

Truly.

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Dianne Bryant's avatar

Tune in to Michael Cohen he has some ideas that I think will form a good foundation for the Dems. in finding and preparing a few to become better at representing us in debates and speeches while running for offices across the country

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Victoria Pawlick's avatar

Okay, two things: 1) This bill is not a GOP restructuring of Medicare, it is a GOP eugenics program. They are doing as much harm as possible to lower income people, the disabled, the elderly and immigrants. Their end game is to eliminate sections of society they deem unworthy. 2) Not discussed enough is the fact that the GOP, in their rush to upstream the wealth of the American citizenry to the 1% has not, as usual, considered the issue of "unintended consequences". Destroying Medicaid will lead to the closure of hospitals and health facilities that service these (as well as other) populations, which will lead to both a scarcity of those facilities for people who do have private insurance and an economic downturn in the areas of those facilities due to job losses there and in the businesses that support those facilities. The reduction in hospitals will lead to the remaining ones trying to service more and more people who need care and have no insurance which will create financial difficulties for those facilities which will then have to increase their fees, which will either result in people with private insurance paying a higher proportion out of pocket for their care, and/or, insurance companies raising their premiums to astronomical rates. Everybody, regardless of income level, will feel the pain especially since any savings of federal dollars realized by the GOP Eugenics bill will be going to reduce taxes on billionaires - not the rest of us. Let's be clear, this Republican bill has two goals: establish a eugenics program in the US and provide more grift for the wealthy.

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Jess Craven's avatar

Definitely true about the unintended consequences. They will be far reaching if we don't stop this.

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Mz.D's avatar

You said it!

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I Hate this Timeline's avatar

Yes eugenics.

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Susan Drury's avatar

Really enjoyed Andrea. Thank you so much for having her on and Andrea. Thank you for your participation. 🙌🙌🙌

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Jess Craven's avatar

I will pass it along!

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Vicky Niemann's avatar

OK, I have a serious question but I can't seem to get answers for this. If congress' bill cuts benefits, like Medicaid and SNAP, pell grants, etc., states will have to take up the difference in costs for their population. Can the states and us, citizens, not pay that much in federal taxes?

They are going to use MY tax dollars to take away MY benefits, why should I pay for it? I would rather give it to my state to help make up the difference.

If we, the people, don't like the way congress has allocated our tax money, how can we make them change it?

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Ànna Palid's avatar

At this point any funds for programs ended will go to enrich billionaires. Unless this can be stopped, to change this sort of thing from happening in the future is in the hands of the voters. You don’t like what your elected politicians are doing, vote them out.

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Vicky Niemann's avatar

I was afraid of that. It really P!$$&$ me off! Thanks for the reply.

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Margaret's avatar

What I heard they were planning was to take everyone who makes under 200,000 and stop their federal income taxes BUT they would increase sales take by 25 to 30% . So the only way to cut back is to stop buying

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Cheryl Johnson's avatar

Thanks for doing this - I found it very informative - scary but informative!

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Jess Craven's avatar

I'm glad you enjoyed it! I will do many more!

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Lynda M-M's avatar

Very helpful. Just what I was looking for.

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Emma Gardner's avatar

Does it make a difference to call Congresspeople when you're not in their district?

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Trevor Phillips's avatar

Call your own member of congress and US senators. Even if they are already opposed. More emails and calls equal them having a better sense of how bad this will be, and encourages them to act. If you live in a state with congress person who may be supporting this act of blatantly brutal life ending greed, support those who are in their district organizing to oppose.

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Emma Gardner's avatar

Thank you, Trevor. I will.

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Ànna Palid's avatar

Medicare and Medicaid are different programs completely though it’s true people can be eligible for both, often referred to as Medi-Medi coverage. It’s frustrating to listen to this discussion because of lack of clarity and understanding about the two programs, although I’m sure the speakers mean well.

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Jess Craven's avatar

I understand they are different programs and Andrea knows pretty much everything there is to know about healthcare policy so I don't think you need to worry that she was conflating the two. We were discussing the places where they overlap, like longterm care.

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Ànna Palid's avatar

If you say so, but I stand by my original feedback.

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Kathie Shorter's avatar

I think the Republicans are trying to kill off everyone who doesn't fit into their mold of perfect or good. Sound familiar?

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christina woods's avatar

What’s the cost to monitor 50 states?

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Sandra MH's avatar

Thank you so much, grateful 🥲

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Sandra MH's avatar

Andrea is a wealth of information on this topic. Thanks for the deeper dive. It’s scary and the next mountain to climb but public support is growing so carry on!

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Loretta Dye's avatar

It’s so rich people can have more money. That’s all it’s for. That’s what our country is give to the rich take from the poor

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Amy Baron-Evans's avatar

I've read a lot about the Medicaid piece and I cannot tell: Did the CBO conclude that 8.6 million people are going to be kicked off Medicaid because of the work reporting requirements? Or is that number not included in the 8.6 million? Jessica, do you know?

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