“Moderate” Republicans being what they are—Republicans—are going to be pretty easily bought off when it comes to Trumpcare. A handful of them—including the two in this story—have been making a lot of noise about protecting the populations of their states who have benefited from Medicaid expansion. The reality is they don’t care if millions of people are cut out of Medicaid, they just don’t want it to happen right away.
Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) have proposed a seven-year phase out of federal funding for the Medicaid expansion, beginning in 2020 and ending in 2027.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) proposed a shorter, three-year phase out that would end in 2023 at the Senate lunch on Tuesday.
Portman’s and Capito’s willingness to end the program is significant, in that it suggests centrists will not demand that the Medicaid expansion be permanent, and that Republicans may be able to find a common ground on the critical issue if the additional federal funds are phased down more slowly.
Portman told reporters Wednesday that a “significant glidepath” is needed, saying “we have a proposal out there for seven years, and we’ll see where we end up.”
We’ll end up with something like 10 million uninsured because of the end of the Medicaid expansion, that’s where we’ll fucking end up, Portman. Or maybe we won’t because they’ll be dead. Either way, that’s all on Republicans.