Broken clock time: Republican Senator Josh Hawley from Missouri vehemently spoke out against cutting Medicaid at all and stood up for the working class who rely on Medicaid for their healthcare.
I have been a huge critic of Sen. Hawley, but even he understands the necessity of Medicaid, especially in his state. Missouri hospitals would close without Medicaid funding.
HAWLEY: Well, the right thing to do is not to cut Medicaid, so I’m glad to hear him say that. Manu, it ought to be just a basic foundational principle.
It is wrong to cut health care for the working poor. And that’s what we’re talking about here with Medicaid.
My state is a Medicaid expansion state. Over 20% of Missourians, including hundreds of thousands of children, are on Medicaid.
There are many states that are “an expansion state.” Shockingly, Sen. Hawley makes the same case I’ve been making about Medicaid recipients.
HAWLEY: And, Manu, they’re not on Medicaid because they want to be. They’re on Medicaid because they cannot afford health insurance in the private market. These are working people and their children who need health care.
And it’s just wrong to go and cut their health care when they’re trying to make ends meet, trying to help their kids, trying to make sure that they’re able to provide for their families.
