This isn’t new … but put this in the context of Sen. Brown applauding Paul Ryan’s Medicare phase-out (yes, that’s what it is). Remember that back in the freak special election campaign, Brown made the outlandish claim that national health care legislation would “hurt Massachusetts.” [Senate candidate Scott Brown hasn’t backed up health cost claims – Quincy, MA – The Patriot Ledger.]
How’s this for hurt? A few weeks back, Health Care For All ran the numbers on the GOP’s Medicaid cuts for MA — which Brown supports:
Deep cuts would be made to both the Medicaid funds Massachusetts is expecting over the next decade, and to funding provided to the state under health reform. Combined, the loss over 10 years would be a staggering $44.5 billion.
Here’s the year-by-year breakdown of federal funds lost to Massachusetts compared to current projections (notice the millions change to billions):
2012: $53 million
2013: $436 million
2014: $2.15 billion
2015: $3.45 billion
2016: $4.47 billion
2017-2021: on average, 6.8 billion/year
These sums are hard to imagine in human terms. Let’s help. The $436 million the Commonwealth would lose in 2013 is enough funds to fully cover over 120,000 children. The $2.15 billion the state would lose in 2014 could cover around 190,000 disabled seniors. If the $4.47 billion the state would lose in 2016 were taken out of Medicaid, it would lead to the loss of over 75,000 jobs, as our economy contracts due to the loss of federal funds. [More here.]
Well la dee da. Thanks for the “help”, Senator.
You know what hurts Massachusetts? Having Scott Brown as Senator. Folks, if you think this guy is Teflon … wait ’til the heat gets turned up. Things are gonna stick.
