Washington—Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) today released the following statement on the Senate Republican bill’s draconian Medicaid cuts:

“At its most basic, the Republican health care bill guts Medicaid to pay for tax cuts for the richest five percent of Americans. This is an immoral policy. The wealthiest country in the history of the world has an obligation to take care of its most vulnerable citizens. We’re talking about children, pregnant women, elderly people in nursing homes, people with disabilities and low-income working people.

“Ending Medicaid as we know it would break the bank in California by shifting an ever-increasing portion of health care costs from the federal government to the state. By 2027, it would be $30 billion more per year. We don’t know exactly how the state would deal with the added financial burden, but our Medicaid director has said that ‘nothing is safe — no population, no services.’ If we don’t defeat this bill, no one enrolled in Medicaid would be safe from these devastating cuts.”

Data:

• 1 in 3 people covered by Medi-Cal (14 million)
• 1 in 2 children covered by Medi-Cal (5 million)
• 3 in 5 nursing home residents are covered by Medi-Cal.
• 1 in 2 people with disabilities are covered by Medi-Cal.

County Enrollments:

• Los Angeles County: 40 percent (4.1 million people)
• San Diego County: 28 percent  (909,000 people)
• Sacramento County: 37 percent (560,000 people)
• Fresno: 50 percent (500,000 people)
• San Francisco: 27 percent (230,000 people)