Post #93 Maryland and Trump Medicaid cuts

In Annapolis it is a financial time bomb being ignored.

With the passage of the Big Beautiful Bill into law, people on Medicaid are going to suffer a great deal. But we need to look at the other aspect of Medicaid in Maryland, the fact that 25% of Maryland residents are on Medicaid.

Medicaid is a joint federal and state program that provides health coverage to millions of Americans, including eligible low-income adults, children, pregnant women, elderly adults, and people with disabilities. It helps cover medical costs for individuals with limited income and resources. Each state administers its own Medicaid program, which means eligibility requirements and benefits can vary from state to state.

Democrats have talked a lot about the impact Medicaid cuts will have on the rural poor. But at times they failed to answer the question, why are so many people on Medicaid and what can we do to get them off Medicaid? Democrats, if they want to can take pride in all the people on Medicaid in Maryland and how they're helping people. But in a DOGE era people want to hear about how you're getting people off government programs and how you're cutting government programs especially when you have a structural deficit.

In an article about this in the Baltimore Banner on July 3^rd, the comment section in the article was very interesting. A lot of people took the attitude of screw them and I am willing to bet a lot of those people voted for Harris for president. They see rural voters as Trump voters and since they voted for Trump, they're getting what they deserve. Trump tax bill threatens Medicaid coverage for rural Marylanders - The Baltimore Banner

I've talked with a lot of political leaders in the last year in Annapolis and a lot of them cite Medicaid spending that's the biggest financial problem in the state budget. The question is, will this force legislative leaders in Annapolis to deal with their own Medicaid spending issues? At this moment there's been no profiles in courage among Annapolis leadership such as Governor Moore, Speaker Jones or Senate democratic leader Bill Ferguson.

If a special session of the Maryland General Assembly is required later this year will Democrats finally look at Medicaid? For Democrats when it comes to looking at Medicaid, many of their constituents in Baltimore City and PG county are on Medicaid and you don't punish those potential voters 17 months before the election. For the most part we know The Blueprint is off the table.

Are 25% of Marylanders on Medicaid because they need Medicaid? Is the state of Maryland so financially poor that so many people need to be on Medicaid? The questions people need to ask and answer in Annapolis, what can be done to reduce Medicaid costs and get more people off Medicaid. Republicans in DC may feel their answer is a lot of tough love and a lot of people will be negatively impacted by the Big Beautiful Bill. Sadly, but truthfully a lot of Americans see people who are on Medicaid in negative terms. They don't use Medicaid because they have no plans on using Medicaid, so they say why do we need Medicaid, and have no problems with cuts to it.

It will come to a surprise to a lot of people about the Medicaid cuts. My brother asked me last week how come this wasn't getting more attention. I told him very simply poor broke ass people who need Medicaid don't watch the news. Not because they're ignorant but because they don't have time to watch the news. So, they're not picking up the phone and calling their leaders in DC about this. Frankly the media only started talking about the Medicaid issue when Democrats started talking about it, a little too late last week. Medicaid is a complicated issue. You can't explain Medicaid in a 10 second sound bite or even in a three-minute story. If 25% of Marylanders are on Medicaid that means that over 65% of Marylanders are not impacted by anything related to Medicaid. The other 10% may work in the medical field or work for government agencies that deal with Medicaid and will be impacted by the cuts to the program. That 65% are the ones watching the news and may not feel the impact of Medicaid cuts.

The other factor behind a lot of these Medicaid cuts is they will affect a lot of people that voted for President Trump in 2024. A lot of them honestly may think, “Oh Medicaid’s going to get cut, but my Medicaid would be OK.” Life doesn't work that way.

Last week I wrote about the impact the Big Beautiful Bill would have on rural hospitals. When people in poor rural areas start to be impacted by the Big Beautiful Bill then it will come to their attention and then they will care. Jonathan Metzl wrote a book a few years ago, Dying of Whiteness. One of the themes of the book was the public health consequences of some conservative politics on taxes, gun control, and healthcare on vulnerable white voters. Metzl found that some vulnerable white Americans would rather die than betray their conservative political views that were embedded with their white identity. Many of these people identified themselves as Trump voters.

Many people in the first Congressional District represented by republican Congressman Andy Harris will be affected by these Medicaid cuts. But they will continue to vote for Harris no matter how deep the cuts are or how they negatively impact their lives. Thomas Frank wrote a book about 20 years ago called, “What's The Matter with Kansas”. The theme of the book was that people would vote for conservative Republicans who supported social issues they loved, but those elected conservative republican officials did not support economic issues their constituents needed. The voters were more focused on the social issues and never gave thought to the fact that on the economic issues that impacted their daily lives these conservative Republicans were voting against their constituents. As long as Harris sings Trump's praises he will be electorally just fine. Today you could call that book, “What's the matter with the Eastern Shore”.