Bernie Sanders Reads Shocking Claim About Impact From Healthcare Cuts In Big Beautiful Bill

Forbes Breaking News

During a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on Wednesday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) spoke about the cuts to Medicaid in the Republican budget.

Transcript

00:00Mr. Chairman, there is no question but that cyber security and protecting the privacy of Americans,

00:07health care records are important issues that need to be dealt with.

00:12But Mr. Chairman, let me be very clear, that is not the issue that is right now on the minds of the American people.

00:19What people are worried about is the catastrophic impact that the reconciliation bill that was passed last week

00:27will have on the health and well-being of the American people.

00:32And that is the issue I'm going to be focusing on today.

00:36That legislation, passed by one vote here in the Senate,

00:42will be making the largest cut to Medicaid in American history

00:45to pay for the largest tax rate for billionaires in American history.

00:50At a time when, as I think all Americans know, our current health care system is broken,

00:56it is dysfunctional, it is cruel, 85 million today are uninsured or underinsured,

01:04this bill will make a horrible situation even worse.

01:09This legislation will cut Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act by more than $1.1 trillion.

01:15The nonpartisan CBO has estimated that this bill, along with the expiration of the enhanced premium tax credits

01:23of the ACA, will cause 17 million people to lose their health insurance.

01:3185 million today, uninsured or underinsured, only country, major country on earth,

01:36not to guarantee health care at all, 17 million more will be uninsured.

01:40Researchers at the Yale School of Public Health and health care economists at the University of Pennsylvania

01:46have found that these health care policies, and I almost hesitate to say these things

01:52because people are not going to believe it, because it is too cruel, too unimaginable.

01:56But they are estimating that this bill will cause over 50,000 people in our country

02:02to die unnecessarily every year.

02:06And that's what happens when you can't get to a doctor.

02:11And I'm delighted that one of the lead researchers of this report, Dr. Allison Galvani,

02:16is here with us today to talk more about that study.

02:19Mr. Chairman, it is not rocket science.

02:22You're a doctor, you know this.

02:23If people don't have access to health care, if they can't get to a doctor when they need to,

02:30people will suffer and tens of thousands will die.

02:33It happens today.

02:34It will only get worse.

02:36Make no mistake about it.

02:38This bill is a death sentence for working class and low-income Americans.

02:43Further, as a result of this bill, it is estimated that more than 300 rural hospitals

02:50are now at risk of closing down altogether or substantially reducing their services.

02:57That is not my estimate.

02:59That is what the Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina

03:04recently estimated.

03:06And we are already beginning to see the devastating impact this bill will have on rural America.

03:10The Curtis Medical Center in southwest Nebraska has already announced that it will be shutting down

03:15because it cannot withstand the cuts to Medicaid contained in this bill.

03:19And it's not just rural hospitals that are now in crisis as a result of this legislation.

03:25According to a recent study from the American Health Care Association,

03:29as a result of this bill, 27% of nursing homes,

03:33I can tell you that in Vermont, nursing homes are in desperate shape today.

03:38And I suspect that's true all over the country.

03:41They are estimating that 27% of nursing homes have indicated

03:44that they will be forced to close their doors and 58% will have to reduce staff.

03:50And it's not just nursing homes.

03:53Healthcare researchers at the Millican Institute of Public Health at George Washington University

03:56have found that this bill will be a disaster for community health centers,

04:01something that many of us feel very strongly about,

04:04providing primary care to 32 million low-income and working-class Americans.

04:08They have estimated, Millican Institute, that as a result of the passage that's bill,

04:13over 40% of community health center sites will shut down.

04:17Today, there are over 15,000 community health center clinics throughout America.

04:21This could result in the shutting down of some 9,000 of them.

04:25And it's not just community health centers, not just nursing homes, not just individuals.

04:29This legislation will substantially increase the uninsured rate in every state in this country.

04:35As a result of this bill, the uninsured rate in my own state of Vermont,

04:40which has one of the lowest uninsured rates in the country,

04:42will go from 3.3 to 6% uninsured.

04:46In Louisiana, the chairman state, the uninsured rate will go from 6.7 to 12.4%.

04:52Florida will go from 10.4 to 18.8%.

04:56In Texas, second largest state in this country,

04:59uninsured rate will go up to 20% in the United States,

05:04in the richest country in the history of the world, and on and on.

05:09So, Mr. Chairman, this is an issue that needs to be explained to the American people,

05:14and I look forward to discussing it with all of our panelists.

05:18I will take advantage of explaining some of the things in there which are not true,

05:23but this hearing is about cybersecurity,

05:25and I hope our witnesses will limit their remarks to that.

05:28If not, we will suffer through them otherwise.

05:30This hearing is about health care in America,

05:32and I hope the witnesses will tell us the truth about what's going on today.

05:36And so, again, to our...

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