It just hit me while watching MSNBC as one pundit said

[nikibatts]

The message should be that this bill is a start of eliminating Medicaid. Middle class working families need to understand that Medicaid is what allows them to take care of grandma in her old age while the rest of the family goes to work.

We need better messaging about the issues we care about. The poster here who said a bit of hyperbole might be a good thing. The protests that surely will be organized need to be informing bystanders that Medicaid might disappear completely within the next 5 years.

[Zoonart]

1. I have been hammering on this point...

for weeks. The middle of America... the 'Mercans, the Trumpists will finally "get" what they've voted for, when Mom or Dad or Grandma or Grandpa... or all of them are unceremoniously dropped off in their wheels chairs in the driveway as the nursing homes close or just dump the folks that can't pay.

[Orrex]

8. I guarantee that they will, at that point, blame Obama

Trump is a pure good, and any fucked up policy he enacts, no matter how brutal, is necessary and unavoidable because of Obama's disastrous mishandling of the economy.

This is not idle speculation. Trump zealots in my own small town--who will personally suffer greatly under Trump's policies--are already doing this.

They are zealots and cultists.



And let me pause here to offer a warm "fuck you" to any lurking Cave-Dwellers or Jerkpole Ridicules who like to soil their diapers over every mean thing they read on DU.

[Alice11111]

34. Yep.Trump was blaming Obama for what he said about the tapes....his own lie.Of course, for N Korea

Dearh of young man, too. He's not fit to touch Obama's clothes .

[Cosmocat]

18. Honestly, and I don't post this lightly

The stupid in this country is so damn entrenched, sadly it might take these assholes passing this disaster and all these people full in on hating the evil liberal to feel the hurt from it to wttfu.

And, if so much as one D votes for it in either chamber ...

[Eliot Rosewater]

26. When their loved one dies, and they will, so will yours and mine, it will be too late.

If the Koch Bros get the constitutional convention they are working on, everything is gone, overnight.

The idiots can be counted on to keep voting for someone who looks like them and has the same bigotries.

[yallerdawg]

2. Obama and the majority Democrats offered Medicaid expansion.

In this Bizarro World, guess what the Corrupt One and the Republicans offer America?

[img][/img]

[rurallib]

11. stealing your cartoon!

[WillowTree]

3. Medicaid or Medicare?

[Phoenix61]

4. Medicaid

Medicare does not cover long-term custodial nursing home dementia care. Medicare will, under some circumstances, cover up to 100 days of skilled nursing residential care. Medicaid kicks in once a person meets the financial eligibility requirements.

[Skittles]

33. Medicaid, but make no mistake: these repuke bastards will go after Medicare and SS next

all so they can help their rich friends

[The Wielding Truth]

5. True. This bill will actually let people die of neglect. Shame on the Republicans!

This is not a civil society.

[procon]

6. Also a loss of many benefits and services that apply to all other insurance plans.

Annual and lifetime coverage caps are back, women will pay more, preventative screening tests will no longer be included for free... that affects EVERYONE.

[Foamfollower]

7. And all so they can line the pockets of the wealthiest Americans with their tax cuts.

[gratuitous]

25. Be sure to mention that part of it, as well

Republicans aren't cutting benefits to citizens because of any budget considerations or any noble impulse, no matter how it's gussied up. Citizens are going to get sicker, die younger, and live more miserable lives because the wealthy don't have enough money, and Republicans don't think that the wealthy should contribute to the upkeep and maintenance of our country.

[Loubee]

9. Why do we have to keep begging the Democrats

to come up with better messaging?

[elias7]

17. More difficult than sending out talking points to minions

The Democratic Party generally is about thinking, not being told what to think. The message is there in the collective body of democratic debate and legislation. Oh, and democrats as a rule don't lie, and that's also a hurdle to conformity of messaging and masses.

[loyalsister]

42. Because citizens are too lazy?

When we can talk sensibly about this and take it to our neighbors it is far more effective. We need to grow up and stop relying on elected officials to put words in our mouths.

[TheBlackAdder]

10. MSNBC's site has the poorest counties list. AK, AL, GA, NC and SD tops the list. All Republican.

.

The lion's share of counties are in RW states.

These people have been convinced of some self-dependency justifications for their plight. It is strong, in the newer Christian variations, since the 1980s, to push that one's blessings are divinely inspired, an extension of whether one has the Spirit of the Holy Ghost within them. This partially explains the calousness of modern Christian Republicans. They write off the poor, as though they were not lifted by God, and there must be a reason why.

.

[WinkyDink]

23. Well, Democrats are Godless baby-killers who take your money and give it away, so there's that.

[mikeyDE]

12. exactly right

I would also emphasize how employer-supplied health insurance will be affected -- life-time limits, preexisting conditions, many illnesses and procedures no longer covered, medical savings plans instead of traditional insurance, etc. I thinks it's a mistake to emphasize the number of people who will lose coverage, as tragic as that is. If the COB gives the Senate a slightly better number than the House bill received, the so-called moderate Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats could vote for the bill and say "it was the best deal we could expect." I am very nervous.

[annabanana]

19. Right!.. New message: "It's not just POOR people! It's YOU TOO!!

Given the shocking lack of care about what happens to the most vulnerable, the best way to engage the greatest number of people is to make sure that it's understood what so-called middle class people will lose.

Having a child is a pre-existing condition for anything else that goes wrong abdominally for the rest of your life.

[dalton99a]

39. +1

[Cosmocat]

20. Its happening

they are already so far off the reservation relative to procedure and normal legislative processes, they will pass it rightfully or not and no one will be able to do anything about it.

There better god damned well not be on a SINGLE D who votes for it, that is why 45 was whining about it, they need just ONE D to justify this as "Bipartisan" DS VOTED FOR IT, the now entrenched last line of defense justification for Iraq.

[SoCalDem]

32. and more companies will really start dumping older workers

what happens to a 45 yr old guy with diabetes/heart disease who gets laid off and has 20+ years to wait for medicare to kick in?

no paycheck...no insurance of any kind...

in 1996 we had cobra for a while..it cost us $800 a month back then.. I cannot imagine how much it would be today..

we had an athlete son and another with a serious pre-existing condition so we had to have it..

[haele]

46. My husband was two years from being cut off from my employer's health care plan pre ACA.

And back then, we made too much as a household for him to be eligible for Medicaid.
We would have had to get divorced or gone bankrupt if not for the ACA.

If we go back to the worst of the pre-ACA insurance, if they don't count his previous medical costs, and my employer is still able to provide a modicum of insurance that will cover my husband's disability, he may be able to continue to be covered until I can get us on Tricare (as a retired reservist) - that is, if it's still around for retirees, or he makes it to minimum SS age - again, if it's still around.

If not, and if California can't get Single Payer off the ground, we will need to consider some serious options after the next 10 years. He's only 52 now ...and he needs regular doctor's visits and some pretty expensive medication to remain functional.

Haele

[Honeycombe8]

13. Yes. My sister had major stroke at a YOUNG age. Medicaid paid for her institutional care.

People don't realize this. It ended up being a combination of Medicaid and medicare for her institutionalization care and rehab. Thank God for that. There was no one in the family who could have cared for her. She need two people to move her, etc. She was single with no spouse or kids.

Medicaid was a Godsend. Every time there was a Medicaid cut, services were cut in her nursing home.

People just don't know or think "that won't happen to me or my family."

[spanone]

14. an 'entitlement' they are gleefully going to eliminate

[B Stieg]

15. Single-payer! Single-payer!

As a high school-age athlete on a "student visa" in Ontario in the mid-1970's, I had a "credit card" ("Social Insurance Canada&quot that I used to pay for every doctor's visit, medical test, ER service, even dentistry (I was an ice hockey player!), without ever receiving a single bill. Not one. Ever.

Of course, at that time, Canada had 20m people and an air force composed of six planes, so paying for it wasn't problematic. Now, the democrats should simply convene a summit, a "Manhattan Project" for health, and not end it until they have genuinely figured out how to fund health insurance for ALL 300m+ Americans (and can explain it straightforwardly). And then run on it.

Over the past three weeks I lost my university teaching job and the pretty good (Blue Shield) health care associated with it, and then got it all back again. My research on the CA exchanges showed that a comparable plan would cost me almost $400/month, which I could probably afford on the 3 part-time jobs I would have needed to pay the bills and if I drank only (free) water every day. The income I could have made up for; the health insurance I couldn't have. The difference in my life would have been like the difference between day and night. And with three pre-existing conditions facing Paul Ryan and TrumpCare, it would have been a very dark night.

The older, poorer, rural and suburban areas of the country would vote for single-payer in droves as it would replace Medicaid and Medicare. Heck, anybody who has ever contemplated paying for ANY sort of medical issue in or around their lives (unless they already had beaucoup health insurance and had never read the benefit payout summaries) would vote for it!

And it would be the good, humane thing to do, something needed to combat the "goodness deficit" starting to engulf our country.

[lark]

16. Exactly! Throwing granny out of the nursing home is gold for messaging.

The fact that it's truthful and highlights a major flaw in the bill needs to be touted from every roof. I've been saying this is taking healthcare from the poor so the rich get a tax break, well, my message just changed to this bill will eliminate Medicaid coverage for nursing home care for 2/3 of elderly. That's a really sore point to aging boomers and their children and will get people's attention focused on the true horror of this bill.

[Skidmore]

21. Get on social media or any media and make the message viral. nt

[WinkyDink]

22. Who are we? Just Regular Joes and Janes. I'm 100% certain that our elected Democrats know WHAT to

say, if we do.

THE PROBLEM IS THE WILL AND GUTS TO SAY IT.

[Vinca]

24. When people think Medicaid, they never think of nursing home care.

If this bill were to pass, many families would get the call: come pick up Grandma.

[mikeyDE]

28. Many Americans

hear Medicaid and think undeserving poor people, people with dark skin, illegal aliens. Of course that's all wrong but you can't talk sense to people any longer.

[Hoyt]

27. It's also what takes care of millions of children.

[womanofthehills]

36. Rachel covered this on her show tonight - 40% of America's kids on Medicaid

49% of all US births are paid by Medicaid. The disabled rely big time on Medicaid to help them live independently. You can listen to Rachel's podcasts for free.

I live in one of the poorer states - New Mexico. 80% of New Mexico's kids are on Medicaid.

When my mom was in assisted living and eventually a nursing home, I was told that when her assets dropped to $2000, Medicaid would begin paying. If these institutions are not going to be paid by the government, they will be closing.

[mikeyDE]

29. Don't forget the economic ripple effect

When people buy cheap insurance with little coverage, they risk bankruptcy. Nursing homes that rely on Medicaid could go out of business or leave many markets. Doctors may retire early rather than take patients with little or no insurance coverage. This has already happened -- in some markets it's hard to find a doctor who'll take Medicare patients.

[greymattermom]

30. That's why I have a new name for this bill, it's

the "watching grandma die in your living room" bill.

[enid602]

31. Success

If successful, ACA and Medicaid are the first to go. Medicare and SS will be next. They have to do it before mid term elections.

[Cha]

35. Yep.. I saw that other OP.. and said "Excellent"

They need to know.. right off the bat!

[Alwaysna]

37. Black market pharmacies will thrive

and people will be sharing prescription medicine . I also expect hold ups at drug stores instead of banks.

[raccoon]

38. K&R. Many people don't really know what Medicare and Medicaid especially are, and don't

realize that the elimination of Medicaid is highly likely to bite them in the ass one day, when grandma needs a nursing home or family members fall into poverty.

[Equinox Moon]

40. People don't realize the significance of Medicaid until they need it.

Our family knew nothing about Medicaid until my mom needed it.

[Catherine Vincent]

43. Same here

We'll soon be applying for Medicaid for my mom. Me and my siblings have been researching on how to handle it. It's all new to us. We kept hearing switching from an advantage medicare plan to straight medicare is best and the beginning of the new year we did. But now that my mom have been in a SNF and needed long term care, keeping her in the advantage plan would have been better. We should have had them switch to a different advantage plan instead, they were previously with the hmo plan.

[Equinox Moon]

44. I don't know much about it, but the advantage medicare is basically part of the private insurance

market, which is not good if you are a working person. If you are on Medicaid and Medicare, the advantage plan is fine, it groups everything and it is all covered either way.

But my point about Medicaid is that most people know nothing about how important it is. We need to educate the public.

[MiddleClass]

45. I'm on Medicare, I've heard nothing but bad things about advantage plans

From people were not 100 percent healthy.

Doctors always push Medicare advantage because they get kickbacks.

But then when you got a serious medical condition you are screwed.

Please inform me if I am mistaken, but above is my antidotal overwhelming experience

[itcfish]

41. Many Deplorables

think Medicaid is for lazy black & Hispanic people while they themselves are using the same system. They don't realize that they will also lose their benefits.