The abominable Trumpcare bill was revealedyesterday, and hidden inside it is a special provision that specifically targets blue states.
In an overt betrayal of Trump’s campaign promises, the legislation makes serious cuts to Medicaid. Republicans are placing a cap on the program by only guaranteeing states a set amount of money per patient. Previously, the federal government agreed to help states pay a certain percentage of total medical costs per patient.
The new per capita expenditure is based on each state’s historical spending. Generally, Republican states have lower past expenses, and so under the new bill would receive less money.
To combat this, the GOP has added another rule, stating that a higher than average spending cap in a given state means the federal government can reduce its contributions by 2%. Not coincidentally, the onus of this striation falls largely on Democratic states.
Republicans added an additional rule to help their states. The legislation states that the 2% rule will not apply to any states that have a population density of fewer than 15 people per square mile. Such rural states reliably vote Republican.
Alaska, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota are some of the states that meet the cut. It’s a blatant handout to supporters, an effort to exclude Republicans from the 2% net. The only way it could be more overt would be if instead of population density, the exclusion benefit was given to “any states that contributed their electoral votes to a Republican candidate in the last presidential election.”
This rule is shameless, even by modern GOP standards.
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