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July 30, 2025 22:13-22:55 - CSPAN

41:54

Washington Journal Andrea Ducas

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mimi geerges

cspan 06:53

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mike johnson

rep/r 01:52

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brian lamb

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kristen welker

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mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Welcome back to Washington Journal.
		We're talking about the 60th anniversary of Medicare and Medicaid with Andrea Dukas.
		She's Health Policy Vice President at the Center for American Progress Action Fund.
		Andrea, welcome to the program.
unidentified		Thanks for having me.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		So just first tell us a little bit about your background in health policy and about your organization, the Center for American Progress.
unidentified		Yeah, so I've worked in health policy my entire career.
		In addition to being a health policy expert, I also get the pleasure of being the phone of friend to everybody in my life as they're going through insurance milestones and have a brother on Medicaid, how to have parents on Medicare.
		And the Center for American Progress Action Fund, where I have the pleasure of doing my work, is a nonpartisan, independent policy institute and advocacy organization that advances bold progressive ideas and leadership on behalf of all Americans.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right, so let's talk about the 60th anniversary.
		This marks the day that President Johnson signed the Medicare and Medicaid program into law.
		What were these programs intended to do?
unidentified		Yeah, so Medicare and Medicaid were part of the big great society programs that were intended to make America a competitive and great country.
		At the time, it wasn't a very radical notion to pass a law that would ensure that no American would go hungry, that no American would go without health care, that no American would go without access to a public education.
		And the Medicare and Medicaid programs were intended to bring health insurance and health care to the most people possible.
		The Medicare program is probably the program that most people are familiar with.
		That is the program that is primarily for people who are older, for American seniors and people living with disabilities, some disabilities.
		The Medicaid program is a program that originally was designed to support and still is designed to support very low-income people in this country.
		In 1965, when it was established, it primarily served children and pregnant women.
		Over time, it's been expanded to include low-income people generally.
		And these are two dramatic policy successes that have just changed the face of health insurance in America.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		How has it changed the face of health insurance?
unidentified		Sure.
		Well, prior to 1965, for example, about half of older adults were uninsured, right?
		That number is about 2% now, thanks to the Medicare program.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		But healthcare didn't cost as much as it does now.
unidentified		That is true.
		And over time, we've made many scientific advances that we want to invest in because we care about people living longer and healthier lives.
		You know, we care about curing cancer and making sure that people are able to spend time with their grandchildren.
		But yeah, so if we go back to when these programs were established, right, and we reflect on what these past six years have been like, it has really been just decades of really exceptional progress on the healthcare front.
		So we started with these two programs, Medicare and Medicaid.
		In 1997, we expanded, the country expanded even more health insurance coverage to more poor children through the Children's Health Insurance Program.
		The Affordable Care Act in 2010 was a sea change that offered an insurance pathway to now 24 million people who didn't have insurance through their jobs or needed to buy it on their own.
		And then the Inflation Reduction Act did a lot to actually lower the cost of prescription drugs, which I neglected to mention.
		In 2003, the Medicare program began covering prescription drugs.
		And now, thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, it is even cheaper to buy coverage through the Affordable Care Act marketplaces.
		I mean, it's been a tremendous, tremendous half-century of progress that the One Big Beautiful bill is really designed to destroy.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		We're going to talk about that, but first a few numbers.
		So here is enrollment numbers currently.
		Medicare has $68.6 million, Medicaid 71.7, and that children's health insurance program you mentioned $7.3 million in that.
		Let's drill down a little bit on Medicare first, just kind of setting the stage here for Medicaid.
		So it has four parts, and we'll get that on the screen for you.
		There's the hospital part, the medical insurance, that's B. C is Medicare Advantage Plan, which is the confusing one.
unidentified		Yes.
		Because that's private and right, that's right.
		So Medicare is actually two programs.
		There's a public, like the original version of Medicare, which about half of people who are enrolled in the program are in.
		And then in 2003, the Medicare Modernization Act opened a pathway for a real meaningful pathway, I should say, for private plans to compete and be an option for coverage.
		That is the Medicare Part C program.
		So when you become eligible for the Medicare program, you can choose traditional Medicare or Medicare Advantage or the private alternative.
		And it's about 50-50 in terms of what the enrollment split looks like.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Let's talk about Medicare and Medicaid spending because that's what the One Big Beautiful Bill, proponents of that bill say that they are addressing.
		So Medicare grew 8.1% to one, so over about a trillion dollars.
		Medicaid grew 7.9% to $871 billion.
		And the national health expenditures grew 7.5% to $4.9 trillion.
		That's total.
		That's coming from CMS.gov.
		Is that kind of growth sustainable?
unidentified		Yeah, so healthcare, it's not a secret.
		Healthcare in America is expensive.
		We spend a lot of money on healthcare in this country.
		I think we tend to conflate what's driving the costs of the increased cost of health care with increased enrollment, which is not necessarily the case.
		We spend a lot of money on this and healthcare in this country because healthcare prices are so high.
		And there's a very, very, very large degree of market dominance and consolidation, which allows healthcare providers to charge high prices and doesn't really include incentives for insurance plans to lower those prices sufficiently.
		That doesn't mean that we shouldn't make sure that people have access to care in this country.
		I think it's a fundamental right that every American should have.
		And I would not agree that the pretext of this bill was to cut spending.
		It seems like primarily the pretext of this bill was to finance tax cuts and to look at safety net programs as the primary vehicle for achieving those savings.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		If you'd like to join our conversation with Andrea Dukas and talk about Medicare and Medicaid on the 60th anniversary, you can.
		The numbers are Democrats, 202-748-8000.
		Republicans, 202748, 8001.
		And Independents, 202748, 8002.
		We have a line set aside.
		If you are currently on Medicare or Medicaid, you can give us a call on 202-748-8003.
		That's the same number you can use to text us if you'd like to do that.
		So let's talk about the One Big Beautiful bill.
		I want to start with House Speaker Mike Johnson.
		He was on Meet the Press and said that the bill would not cut Medicaid.
		And then I'll have you respond.
unidentified		Yeah.
mike johnson ▲ ● ▼		The bill does not cut Medicaid.
		The One Big Beautiful bill does not cut Medicaid.
		What it does is strengthen the program.
		And we talked about this, Kristen, is that the problem is there's a high degree of fraud, waste, and abuse in that program.
		I'm talking about tens of billions of dollars every year.
		What we did is we went in to go in and fix that.
		We introduced work requirements, which is a wildly popular notion in public opinion polling, because it makes sense.
		Medicaid is a safety net program.
		It is intended for the elderly, the disabled, young, single pregnant women, young mothers.
		And those resources are being drained because you had able-bodied young men, for example, with no dependents who are riding the wagon.
		That's not right.
		It's morally wrong.
		And it doesn't comport with the law.
		So what we did in our Big Beautiful bill is we went in to carve those guys out of that program.
		They have work requirements now, 20 hours a week.
		They either have to be working, looking for a job in a work training program, or volunteering in their community, which is good for them and their surroundings.
		We find dignity in our work.
		We're proud of that reform.
		And by the way, there was a Harris and Harvard poll that came out about two weeks ago.
		And they looked at 17 of the 21 primary provisions in that big beautiful bill.
		And 17 out of 21 are majority support in the public.
		And that's after the onslaught of the mainstream media and Democrats lying about the bill.
		So we're excited to go out into our districts in August and tell the truth.
kristen welker ▲ ● ▼		But Mr. Speaker, Josh Hawley says he is worried about cuts to payments and Medicaid reimbursements.
		Why would he be introducing a bill to roll back cuts in Medicaid if there were no cuts in Medicaid?
		He says the people in his state are going to suffer.
mike johnson ▲ ● ▼		I haven't talked to my friend Josh Hawley about his legislation.
		I'm not sure what that's directed to, but I would tell you that the One Big Beautiful bill safeguards the program.
		It strengthens it.
		It makes sure that Medicaid will be there for those who actually need it and who the law is intended to provide for.
		It is not for illegal aliens.
		We've kicked them off.
		It's not for people who are gaming the system.
		We've kicked them off.
		And it's not for people who should be working.
		They have to be able to prove that they're in one of these programs in order to get those benefits.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		So Andrea, a lot to respond to there.
		Let's break it down.
		He says that it strengthens the program.
unidentified		Yeah, that could not be farther from the truth.
		Notably, I mean, as he has he says, well, as he does not say, the bill absolutely cuts the Medicaid program.
		It includes a trillion dollars in cuts to that program.
		I don't really, I think this gets down to semantics a bit.
		Like, do you believe that cutting somebody from the program is a cut or not?
		I mean, the Congressional Budget Office finds that millions and millions and millions of people are going to lose coverage as a result of these work requirements in particular.
		The vast majority of people who can work on the Medicaid program do.
		There's only about 8% of people.
		We know this through surveys, lots of data.
		There's only about 8% of people who can work on the Medicaid program who don't.
		And these are primarily older women who exited the workforce in the last five years to care for family members.
		I think there's something very telling in Speaker Johnson's comments about how the program is not designed for able-bodied men without dependents.
		I wonder if the majority of Americans in this country believe that young men should not have access to health insurance.
		I would contend that that's not the case.
		The Medicaid program, federal Medicaid dollars have never been eligible to be used for undocumented immigrants.
		This is, again, a problem that is not real.
		We expect Josh Hawley is, Senator Hawley is extremely worried correctly about what these cuts are going to mean for his state because as he knows, this is going to result in billions and billions and billions of dollars in uncompensated care costs that are going to have to be shouldered by hospitals.
		We expect that there are going to be hospitals that close.
		We expect that, again, millions of people are going to lose their coverage.
		We expect millions more from the city.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Hospitals would close because uninsured people would start showing up at the emergency room because they have no other options.
unidentified		That's exactly right.
unidentified		And there'll be less investment that the states are able to make because their Medicaid budgets will decrease.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Now, he said that there are tens of billions of dollars in fraud, waste, and abuse in this program.
		I mean, we don't know exactly how much, but there is fraud, waste, and abuse.
		So how does this bill address that?
unidentified		It does not at all.
		So any program is going to have fraud and abuse.
		I think it's important to remember Medicaid, for example, it's not like a cash good.
		When you're enrolled in Medicaid, you're not paid by the federal government.
		You don't derive a benefit from it.
		You go when you're sick or when you need health care, you go to a hospital, you go to a doctor, they receive payment.
		So when you see fraud in the Medicaid program, it's usually fraudulent billing.
		It's something that a provider of health care system is doing incorrectly, right?
		And there are units that exist within the federal government that are designed to detect that kind of thing.
		Sometimes you might see some like paperwork issues with enrollment, but that is where that happens.
		Kicking people off of the program because they can't make it through the red tape to prove that they already have a job is not addressing fraud.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Let's talk about illegal immigrants because this Medicaid is administered by the states.
		Correct.
		And there are states that can determine that they will cover illegal people that are here illegally.
		So how, I mean, in the sense he is true.
		So the federal government is saying we will not pay you to the states if you continue to cover illegal immigrants.
unidentified		Well, the federal Medicaid dollars are not allowed to be used for undocumented immigrants.
		States that choose to do that use their own money.
		They use state money.
		They do not draw down federal Medicaid dollars to provide that coverage.
		States are free to spend money how they would like.
		That's why that provision actually fell out of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act where there was a provision in there that would have punished states in other ways because they chose to spend their own money to cover undocumented immigrants.
		Usually, I mean, there are states, the reason that many states do this is to make sure that there's not a chilling effect for anybody to access coverage who needs it.
		So primarily, this might be like a, you know, we're going to provide coverage to all low-income children, regardless of immigration.
		We're not going to ask you to tell us to prove what your immigration status is.
		And again, that's just to make sure that people are able to get the care they need.
		It's not like a pathway rolling out the red carpet to bring in to bring in undocumented immigrants.
		But again, that is something that some states choose to do with their own money.
		The federal government has never paid for those immigrants to receive Medicaid coverage.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		All right, let's talk to callers.
		We'll start with Jack and Maryland, Democrat.
		Hi, Jack.
unidentified		Hey, good morning, ladies.
		I want to ask your guests, what are you guys doing?
		I mean, it's great that you're on T-Spen and You're putting out the message that this one big beautiful bill is really going to hurt millions and millions of people who rely on Medicaid.
		So, what else are you guys doing to combat the lies, the blatant lies that are being told by the Republicans?
		I mean, they're saying, they're telling you we're going to cut $1 trillion from Medicaid and Medicare.
		And at the same time, they're telling you we're not cutting people off of Medicaid and Medicare.
		So I'm not sure what you can do.
		And what else can we do to help people to vote in their own best interest?
		I mean, if you rely on Medicaid and Medicare for your health benefits and you vote Republican, you're literally voting against yourself.
		And people who live in these southern and rural areas, they're going to lose these rural hospitals.
		They're going to lose their health care.
		And another tale in this One Big Beautiful bill is a lot of these provisions don't take place until after the midterm elections.
		Why is that?
		I mean, that should tell people something.
		And you're going to have Republicans call after me and they're going to defend Donald Trump.
		They're going to defend this One Big Beautiful Bill.
		And a lot of these people are going to rely on these benefits.
		So what are we doing besides coming on C-SPAP?
		We have to put out a better and bigger message.
		All right, Jack.
		Well taken.
		I mean, I think, as you just shared, the most important thing we can be doing is actually telling the truth about what's in this One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
		I think something that we all need to remember is that this process, the process that Congressional Republicans used to pass this bill was intentionally fast, done mostly over the cover of darkness in the middle of the night and without any public input.
		And the point was to make sure that nobody knew what was in this bill because once people know what's in it, they don't like it.
		It's unpopular.
		The provisions are unpopular.
		And the fact of the matter is, this bill was actually passed without even knowing what the full impacts were going to be.
		That was intentional.
		And so now we're in a position, we're all in a position where we're trying to make sense of this in real time.
		I talk to reporters all the time who ask, what does this provision mean?
		And we have to work through it together to say, well, we don't really know, and neither does Congress.
		And yet they voted on it anyway.
		So we are in this very weird position where we're having to experience it and cut through a lot of misinformation.
		It's very hard to tell accurate stories about a bill when the people who voted on it don't even know what's in it.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Diane in Morristown, New Jersey asked you this on text.
		Unfortunately, during COVID, many ineligible people were put on Medicaid.
		Now that COVID crisis is over, we have to address those people on the rolls.
		It's unsustainable.
unidentified		Yeah, so what this person is referring to is during the COVID pandemic, states, there was a public health emergency and states were not permitted to remove people from their Medicaid.
		It doesn't mean that people were ineligible for the program, but they put a moratorium on doing, on redetermining eligibility for Medicaid.
		That ended.
		The public health emergency is over.
		A process known as Medicaid unwinding happened and those folks were removed from the program.
		People who were no longer eligible for the program were removed from it.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Luanna Atlanta, Maryland, you are on Medicare, Luanna.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Go ahead.
unidentified		Yes, I started working at age 13, which at that time was legal and was paying into Social Security and Medicare from that time.
		I didn't receive Medicare until 65, 66.
		And since then, I have received four different identification numbers for I just recently received a new one, maybe about two days ago.
		And it seems to me that there's a rationale for why our numbers continue to change, as well as the fact that the supplementary insurance that I have is one of the best ones that you can pay for.
		And I just want to know, why did I get a new card in this past week when I just got a new card half a year ago?
		Well, I'm not sure about your individual circumstance or what sorts of cards you're getting.
		My recommendation would be to call 1-800 Medicare to talk with one of their assisters about that.
		But one thing to note, again, is as I shared before, the Medicare program usually has two coverage pathways.
		You can go into original Medicare, you can go into Medicare Advantage.
		And people who, no matter which pathway you choose, there's open enrollment every year.
		Folks make different decisions, so it could be something like that.
		But I would call 1-800 Medicare.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Andrea, you have an opinion piece in MarketWatch with the headline.
		If you thought Medicaid was a mess already, Trump's cuts only add to the chaos and the costs.
		How is that?
unidentified		Yeah, so primarily this is going to happen in two ways.
		One is through the paperwork, Medicaid work reporting requirements, which we know from state experience in places who have, in places that have tried to implement work requirements in the past, are just a bureaucratic nightmare.
		So take, for example, the state of Georgia.
		The Medicaid program in Georgia rolled out a program called Pathways to Coverage, which included Medicaid work reporting requirements.
		So far, according to ProPublica, the state of Georgia has spent $90 million implementing this program, and I think like 2,000 people have enrolled.
		50 million of those dollars have gone to allegedly Deloitte to stand up a program that nobody's using, even though 250,000 people are eligible for it.
		We also know from state experience that primarily work requirements just kick eligible people off of the program.
		That's what's happened basically in every place that's tried it.
		And I think, again, this gets at, like, I understand the cynicism around the timing of some of the provisions of the bill happening under the midterms.
		I agree.
		I share that cynicism.
		But one thing that is plain as day that goes at the heart of like this lie that the bill does not cut Medicaid is that work reporting requirements, these elements of the bill only save money if they kick people off of coverage.
		So if a magic switch is flipped and instead of a bureaucratic nightmare, work requirements magically work.
		Everybody's working.
		Everybody's qualifying for their exemption.
		Nobody's having trouble with paperwork.
		Nobody loses coverage and no money is saved.
		And the only reason these are in this bill and associated with millions of coverage losses to produce coverage savings, again, is to finance tax cuts.
		These aren't, if you were designing a bill to strengthen the Medicaid program to make sure that it was delivering the best possible insurance product that it could, serving Americans in the best way possible, this is not what you would do.
		You would not just invoke a number of policies that are designed to kick people off of the program.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Let's talk to David, a Republican in North Carolina.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, David.
unidentified		Good morning.
		In regards to your guest and her comments, one specifically that no one knows what's in the bill when it was voted on, I thought the liberal Democrat side required that the bill be read completely.
		So I think everyone knows what's in the bill.
		Everyone, what they've done is they've formed their own opinions.
		I don't understand why the left does not just let things play out.
		Elections have consequences.
		The majority of people voted for the policies that are being put in place in this tax bill, which does favor the middle class, that let this play out.
		And if things work out badly for the current administration, they get voted out next time.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		What do you think?
unidentified		I mean, I think it's very clear that most of the people who vote on the bill don't know what's in it.
		We continue to see representatives do interviews where they say things like work requirements don't apply to parents.
		That's not true.
		You see them say Medicaid cuts aren't going to touch my state for another 10 years.
		That's not true.
		I think, you know, we can agree to disagree on whether it's responsible to allow 10 million people to lose their coverage.
		Of course, elections have consequences, but as a society, I think we owe it to the American public to make sure that they have basic needs being met.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Medicare Part A is the part of Medicare that is for hospital benefits.
		The latest trustee report from CMS says that that is going to be depleted in 2033 instead of 2036, as was originally thought.
		Why is that and what can be done about that?
unidentified		Yeah, so again, we spend a lot of money on health care in this country.
		We spend a lot of money on prescription drugs.
		We have exceptionally high health care prices.
		There is a lot to do to bring down the costs of care.
		One way to do that is to slash and burn and just cover no one, right?
		We don't have health insurance programs at all.
		We cut the rolls.
		Another way to do that is to actually tackle why health care prices are high and why health care costs are so high in this country.
		We have a lack of transparency.
		Again, we have exceptionally high costs of drugs.
		We have very, very, very high hospital prices.
		Those are things that are tacklable.
		And with respect to the Medicare program, one source of significant overspending is the Medicare Advantage program.
		So we, again, have talked about how there's this private version of the Medicare program.
		The Independent Advisory Commission that advises Congress about Medicare spending finds that that program is overpaid by at least $83 billion a year.
		We think that number at CapAction is significantly higher, and that's because of all sorts of loopholes and games that private plans are able to pay to game the system and increase their reimbursement rates.
		There are many, many, many ways to bring health care prices and costs down.
		I just don't think that the way to do that is to exclude people from getting health care services.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Jeremiah in Virginia Beach, Virginia, on the line for those with Medicare.
unidentified		Go ahead.
		Yes, I have Medicare Part A and B.
		I just don't understand C.
		It seems like it's a rip-off because they keep the premiums are way higher.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		So, yeah.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Jeremiah?
unidentified		I can't hear, ma'am.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Okay.
		We'll get you an answer.
		Go ahead, Andrea.
unidentified		Yeah, so Medicare, again, Medicare Part C, Medicare Advantage, is the private version of Medicare that folks can buy into.
		Many people choose to do this because the Medicare program is pretty complex and it's complicated.
		If you go into traditional Medicare, right, you have Medicare Part A, you have Part B where you're paying a premium, you buy a prescription drug plan, Part D. Many people who do that also buy supplementary coverage, Medigap coverage, to help pay for the costs of their deductibles, their out-of-pocket payments, and all of that together can be a complicated thing to do.
		The alternative, Medicare Advantage, bundles all of that into one private product.
		It's cheaper for most people, but that comes at a cost, right?
		In some places, right, that might come at a cost of buying into a product that only has a network as big as one county.
		That's true for many Medicare Advantage products in the state of Florida, for example.
		So you have restricted networks.
		You have rules about what you're able to access and what you're not.
		But many people make that trade-off because the costs are a little bit more affordable and predictable.
		Those plans can also offer supplemental benefits like dental vision and hearing.
		But many people, again, who have serious health issues, who are very sick, find those types of plans too constraining and choose to go into the traditional Medicare program as an alternative.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Moses in Lake Elmo, Minnesota, Independent.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Good morning.
unidentified		Good morning, Peace Man.
		Good morning, America.
		I am absolutely astounded.
		You just showed a graph that showed more people are on Medicaid than Medicare.
		That is the issue in the whole thing.
		There's no way that single mothers, disabled people, people who for whatever reason can't work are at 71 million people in this country.
		We all pay into Medicare.
		The Democrats have been destroying this country by giving free Medicaid to the United States.
		We can't afford that.
		Are you telling me there's 71 million disabled people in the United States?
		That's my question.
		It's ridiculous.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		And let's just put on the screen the people that are eligible for Medicaid, and then I'll give you a chance to respond.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		So it is low-income families, pregnant women, children, individuals receiving supplemental security income, that's SSI, individuals with disabilities, low-income adults in states that expanded Medicaid.
unidentified		Yeah, so the requisite for being eligible for Medicaid for the vast majority of people is being very low-income.
		So even, again, children, pregnant women, adults that are on this program are poor people.
		I mean, this is a function of how many people are living in poverty or just above the poverty line in America.
		Even with Medicaid expansion through the Affordable Care Act, which allowed childless adults to access the program for the first time, only goes up to 138% of the federal poverty level.
		I think for a family of four, that's maybe living on like $33,000.
		It's not a lot of money.
		The program also includes eligibility pathways for people like my brother.
		He's severely intellectually and developmentally disabled.
		He lives in the state of Florida.
		He qualifies because he has permanent disability that he's had since he was a child.
		There are many people who are on the Medicaid program who are also seniors.
		They're people who have Medicare as well.
		These are called dual eligible people.
		If you need nursing home care, if you need to live in a nursing home, that's not something that the Medicare program typically pays for.
		You either have to pay for it privately or qualify for Medicaid coverage for that kind of care because you meet income eligibility.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		That's what I was going to ask you.
		So you do have to be low income to get as a senior who needs a nursing care home.
		You still have to be low income in order for Medicare to cover that.
unidentified		Yes, yeah.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Let's talk to Tim, Glenn Allen, Virginia, line for Medicare recipients.
unidentified		Yes, hi, this is Tim Kelly.
unidentified		Can you hear me?
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Yes, go right ahead, Tim.
unidentified		Great.
		Medicare recipient.
		Also worked in health and human services for a period of time and retired military as well as corporate and other areas.
		I did work in HHS.
		And I would like to say that I watched the reading or a good portion of the reading of the bill in Congress and noticed that in the wall of Congress as it was being read, there was a substantial number of representatives who were not in attendance.
		So the actual person that you're interviewing there is correct in that many of our congressmen are not aware of all of the bill's impacts.
		Secondly, I'm working in HHS.
		I do understand the problems that the funding is going through.
		But I'd like to just make sure that folks are realizing that their congressmen are not actually participating on both sides.
		Thank you.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Any comment there?
unidentified		No, I think that's accurate.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Tim did mention that he's a vet.
		So how does it work with veterans and the care that they are afforded through the VA?
		Do they get both, for instance, Medicare, Medicaid, and VA support?
unidentified		It depends, again, on what their eligibility pathways look like.
		There are veterans who are on Medicare, on Medicaid.
		I mean, you would see sort of similar issues.
		Anything that this bill does that hurts folks on Medicare or Medicaid would apply to a veteran with Medicare and Medicaid coverage.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Here's Renee in Darby, Pennsylvania, line for Medicare recipients.
unidentified		Good morning.
		I'd like to find out what kind of cuts are they going to even make cuts to long-term Medicare recipients.
		I'm 71.
		I know they were talking about changes coming in.
		What changes are going to affect us for Medicare?
		For Medicare, sure.
		So for Medicare enrollees, there are a few different things.
		One is, and there's a few provisions.
		Again, there's so much in this bill, it's very hard to articulate or to have breakthrough every single thing that's in it.
		But with respect to Medicare, one change is that there will be classes of people, legal immigrants, who are no longer eligible for the program.
		So it will cut actually eligibility for some legal immigrants who are refugees, asylees.
		They will lose coverage eligibility for the program altogether.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		So this is before they would get a green card, let's say.
unidentified		Yes.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		So they're in the process of claiming asylum.
		So they're still here legally, but they have not reached a green card.
		That's correct.
unidentified		That's correct.
		So there will be categories of legal immigrants who have paid into the system and some folks who don't even have a green card pathway necessarily, but again, they are legal immigrants who will no longer be eligible for the program.
		So that is one change that this bill made.
		Another is there was a rule under the Biden administration to make it easier for very, very low-income people, very low-income seniors on Medicare to access savings programs that they're eligible for.
		So if you're not fully dual eligible for the Medicaid program while you're on Medicare, if you're very low-income, you can also, you can qualify at least for savings programs that help cover the costs of your deductibles, your premiums, your out-of-pocket payments, especially for things like prescription drugs.
		So for a couple on Medicare who's making like $33,000 a year, that program can help them save about over $8,000 a year in Medicare costs.
		And there's a provision in this bill that gets rid of the rule or gets rid of implementation of the rule to make that streamlining easier, to make it easier for people to access programs for which they're eligible.
		And we anticipate that as a result of that, over 1 million Medicare beneficiaries aren't going to be able to enroll in those savings programs.
		So they're going to see very high costs that they otherwise shouldn't have to be paying for.
		There's another change in this bill that we had a under the Biden administration, there was a change to require minimum staffing ratios for nursing homes.
		Things like, you know, at a minimum, you have to have a registered nurse at a nursing home 24 hours a day.
		This bill would block that rule.
		And as a result, we expect that there will unfortunately probably be thousands of Medicare beneficiaries or benefit people living in nursing homes who might die because they don't have safe facilities.
		So there are a number of changes in this bill that will hit Medicare.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Well, one proposal to improve the solvency of Medicare is to raise the eligibility age.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Are you in favor of that?
unidentified		No.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Why not?
unidentified		I mean, I think, again, everybody should have access to health insurance in this country.
		The program has been working very well.
		People pay into the program, assuming that they're going to get it when they hit age 65, and I don't see any reason that that should change.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		But the life expectancy has increased ever since that 65 was set.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		So you still don't think that in order to improve the health of Medicare, if you will, that that age should be raised at all?
unidentified		Life expectancy has increased.
		It hasn't increased equally for everybody in this country.
		There are pretty significant disparities between different groups of people in terms of their average life expectancy.
		I mean, this is a debate that people have about Social Security as well.
		But again, this is insurance.
		This is health care, right?
		People need access to health care.
		People don't work necessarily all their lives.
		They deserve to be able to retire.
		This is a pathway that is also for people living with some disabilities.
		I mean, I think, again, as a country, we owe it to the American public to give them access to health insurance.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Robert in Naples, Florida, Independent Line.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Robert.
unidentified		Good morning.
		How are you?
		That's a real simple solution.
		WWJD, what would Jesus do about health care?
		And the savings programs are $33,000 a year, and you're going to save $8,000 to cover medical expenses.
		Where are they going to get that money?
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		So I'm not sure what you mean by what would Jesus do about health care.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		What do you think he would do?
unidentified		I think he would heal them without asking questions.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Right, but the government doesn't have that option.
unidentified		It does have that option that provides medical care for everybody.
unidentified		Oh, I see.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Okay.
		Now I get it.
		Any comment on that answer?
unidentified		I mean, that is, again, another option, right?
		We could decide that as a country we want to provide a pathway for everyone to have access to coverage.
		I'd be in favor of that.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Angela in California, Medicare recipient.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Good morning.
unidentified		Hey, how are you doing?
		I just turned 65 on January 14th.
		I am still working a full-time job, making over $90,000 a year.
		They made me take Medicare A and B, because they say I qualify with a 46-year earning history since I've been working since 1978.
		My mother just retired in 1984 from the city.
		She has to pay a penalty of $129 because she refused to take Medicare when she turned 65.
		So can you explain to me, do everyone have to take Medicare when you turn 65 in the United States of America?
		Thank you.
		Yeah, so there are different rules related to Medicare.
		When people have multiple forms of coverage, and they're also Medicare eligible, Medicare typically becomes the primary source of insurance.
		You can have multiple sources of insurance, but there are specific rules about who becomes the primary payer.
		You'll see similar types of things if you and your spouse have different job-based plans and then you have a baby.
		There's different rules about which plan is going to cover the baby.
		But yeah, I mean, there's a number of technicalities around how the program functions when people have more than one source of insurance.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		John in San Antonio, Texas texted us.
		Democrats have been in control for 12 of the last 16 years.
		What exactly have they done to reduce medical costs?
		Andrea seems to be putting this all on Republicans.
unidentified		Well, that is certainly not my intent.
		And I can outline what Democrats have done to reduce health care costs.
		I guess probably going, well, we'll go back to 2010.
		First, they introduced the Affordable Care Act.
		As a result of that, Medicaid became a coverage pathway for people without children who are very, very low income in this country.
		We now have an Affordable Care Act marketplace.
		You are allowed to buy insurance without any thought about pre-existing conditions.
		Young people are able to stay on their parents' insurance plan until they turn 26 years old.
		There are a number of different preventive services every year that people can get for free without cost sharing, like mammograms, colonoscopies, vaccines.
		Those were pretty significant successes that lowered the cost of health care for millions of Americans and allowed people to access insurance.
		During the Biden administration, the Inflation Reduction Act was passed, which allowed Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices for the first time, drive down prescription drug costs.
		It also instituted a $2,000 annual out-of-pocket cap on Medicare Part D expenses.
		So now nobody on Medicare will pay more than $2,000 a year for their prescription drug coverage as a result of major legislation.
		It also capped insulin costs at $35 a month for people on Medicare, introduced cost-sharing.
		I mean, there's a lot.
		But we have to remember that in spite of how President Trump is running his administration, right, the president is not a king.
		There are multiple branches of government.
		Congress, the executive branch, the courts all have to make, they all have a role to play.
		Unless you have a supermajority, it's not like any one party can like do everything that it wants on its whims.
		But I mean, I would say that the Democrats have done a lot to lower the costs of health care.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Let's talk to Mark in New York, Line for Democrats.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Good morning.
unidentified		Good morning.
		The last time this young lady was online or on the show, she was a counterpart and somebody was on the phone.
		You're both talking about health insurance.
		And the last time you were on air, your counterpower, Jason, you shut you out when you were about to make a comment on federal funding for corporate health insurance.
		And I looked it up and it was like $500 a month per person, $1,000 per couple, and it goes up from there.
		Can she comment on that now?
		I'm not.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		So, Mark, you said federal funding for private insurance.
mimi geerges ▲ ● ▼		Are you talking about Medicare Part C?

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