On the 60th Anniversary of the creation of Medicare and Medicaid, DNC Chair Ken Martin released the following statement:

“For sixty years, Medicare and Medicaid have helped expand access to affordable health care for Americans, including seniors, families, children, and people with disabilities. When President Johnson signed Medicare and Medicaid into law in 1965, our leaders knew — as we know today — that all Americans should have access to basic health care.

“This is personal for me. Being raised by a single mom of four, who was a housecleaner, we struggled when I was young. If it weren’t for Medicaid, we wouldn’t have had healthcare. Medicaid is the type of basic lifeline that my family and I — like millions of other families — relied on to make it through tough times

“Sixty years later, Donald Trump is betraying the promise of Medicare and Medicaid and leaving working families and seniors on their own. Trump made the largest cut to Medicaid in American history in order to pay for tax handouts for billionaires. As a result, Americans will lose access to health care, see their local clinics and hospitals shut down, and face skyrocketing prices for prescription drugs. 

“Democrats will do everything in our power to fight back against Trump’s billionaire-first agenda, restore the promises of Medicaid and Medicare, and ensure no American is ever forced to choose between lifesaving care and putting food on the table.” 

Trump and the GOP’s billionaire-first budget includes the largest cut to Medicaid in American history, ripping away health care from 17 million people, to fund another round of tax handouts for their billionaire donors. The GOP budget bill: 

• Rips away health care from 17 million Americans. 

• Cuts over $1 trillion from Medicaid, Medicare, and the Affordable Care Act — including the largest cut to Medicaid in American history.

• Puts over 300 rural hospitals at risk of shutting down, ripping away critical, lifesaving care from hundreds of rural communities across the country.  

• Forces at least 1 in 4 nursing homes to close their doors. 

• Cuts $1.3 trillion in food assistance and health coverage while giving the wealthy that exact amount in tax breaks. 

• Enacts the largest wealth transfer in history from the working and middle classes to the ultra-rich: 
  • Republicans are slashing incomes among the poorest 20% by 3.8% while increasing the incomes of the richest 20% by 3.7%. 
  • Americans making under $15,000 — below the federal poverty level — will see their taxes increase by 12% in the short term and jump 73% by 2033.
  • Americans making above $1,000,000 — more than 50 times the federal poverty level — will get an average tax handout of $79,000.

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