This was a key part of Clinton’s speech and he hammered it home with a great delivery:
Now, folks, this is serious, because it gets worse. And you won’t be laughing when I finish telling you this. They also want to block grant Medicaid and cut it by a third over the coming 10 years. Of course, that’s going to really hurt a lot of poor kids.
But that’s not all. A lot of folks don’t know it, but nearly two-thirds of Medicaid is spent on nursing home care for Medicare seniors who are eligible for Medicaid. It’s going to end Medicare as we know it. And a lot of that money is also spent to help people with disabilities, including a lot of middle-class families whose kids have Down’s syndrome or autism or other severe conditions.
And, honestly, just think about it. If that happens, I don’t know what those families are going to do. So I know what I’m going to do: I’m going to do everything I can to see that it doesn’t happen. We can’t let it happen. We can’t.
Ezra Klein wonders if Clinton meant “end Medicaid as we know it”. I think he meant what he said. For poor and middle-class Americans, going to the nursing home means a quick exhaustion of your resources and a transition to Medicaid. So it’s fair to say that “Medicare as we know it” includes Medicaid. Clinton knows that if his message gets across, instead of the Romney attack on Medicaid as an unfair advantage for the poors and the browns, the Romney/Ryan Medicaid cuts are political poison.
debbie
Clinton was peerless last night. I especially like this bit from Tom Junod:
Valdivia
That speech was something else. I must confess I am now totally nervous for Obama. Not because he doesn’t know how to throw down but because the stakes are so high.
And speaking of: the preview of the speech by Baker at the NYT is so full of smuggled assumptions (like Obama simply walked away from Simpson Bowles) and Republican views of him that it makes for aggravating reading.
MikeJ
@debbie:
Teardrops from wingnuts and blisters on heinies
Big net pundits acting so whiney
November elections tied up with string….
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
Big Dawg still got it, and he brought it.
WereBear
Kind of like when he was slated to do that speech on race that his whole campaign would hinge on?
I’m not worried. Anticipatory, but not worried. Michelle, Big Dawg, and now the President; they all have different roles, and will make different speeches.
Are you fired up? Are you ready to go?
I donated and got that on a t-shirt for election night.
Valdivia
@WereBear:
I am so very fired up you have no idea. :)
Will remain a little nervous until after the O is done.
I also hate all the speculating about the move indoors. Oh well, the Village is going to be idiotic no matter what.
debbie
@MikeJ:
I see a future on youtube!
Kay
It’s such an important point because it ties back to Castro’s line about a relay not a race.
Middle aged people could not stay in the middle class without these programs, let alone get ahead. Without Medicare/Medicaid covering their elderly parents health care costs, middle aged, middle class people would have to pick that up.
That’s why I hate how Medicaid is always referred to as a program “for the poor”. This is multi-generational stuff, and it’s (partly) a middle class subsidy.
PurpleGirl
Yes, ending Medicaid’s support of nursing home expenses will end Medicare. Medicare does not pay for nursing homes or home care. It pays for the drugs people need and the doctors’ visits but not the nursing home/home health aid itself. And a lot of people — probably most — simply do not have the assets to pay for that. (As it is to get Medicaid, you have to spend down your savings and assets until you have only a few thousand — like $3,000 — left.)
For all he knows, Ezra is wrong. Clinton meant what he said. And Grayson meant what he said — the Republican plan for sick people is for them to die quickly.
Omnes Omnibus
@Valdivia: Obama rises to the occasion every time there is an occasion. I am a bit concerned about tonight though; I couldn’t get to sleep for hours after Clinton last night and, if Obama does what I expect, I will be exhausted at work on Friday.
Dennis SGMM
Ryan’s proposal to cut Medicaid spending is disturbing and Clinton was right to highlight it. Even more disturbing is Ryan’s proposal to block grant the funds. How many cash strapped states will be able to resist skimming off a portion of those block grants? And, how likely would a Romney/Ryan administration be to look the other way when they did so?
Valdivia
@Omnes Omnibus:
know what you mean. I am experiencing a political high!
I totally dug the Cristina speech that no one talked about and loved Fluke and Warren. But of course the night belonged to Bill. Will be on pins and needles until Obama’s speech.
Have you guys seen the obscene Woodrow book? Blaming Obama for the Republican obstruction and their hurt fee fees? Wish someone would just give the guy a clue and retire him.
TS
@PurpleGirl:
This is – very much an issue for women. If the nursing home care of the elderly is no longer affordable, it is usually the women in a family who have to leave their paid employment to be the main caregiver to their parent. If they can’t afford this – what happens next?
SiubhanDuinne
@Valdivia:
Apparently an oh-so-funny wingnut meme making the rounds is an aerial photo of the totally empty stadium in Charlotte, and a caption “President Obama: You Didn’t Fill That.”
Aren’t Republicans just the cleverest things?
O/T Valdivia, but are all your peeps in Costa Rica okay after yesterday’s earthquake? There hasn’t been much in the news about it, so I assume it did minimal damage.
Kay
I thought Sandra Fluke did really, really well. Just a perfect expression of the anger that I felt about that whole episode. I loved the contempt in Romney “standing with delegates and donors” rather than women. Great line, perfectly delivered.
Dennis SGMM
@TS:
Granny dumping.
Elizabelle
Good morning.
Washington Journal. Nancy Pelosi on at 8:30.
Dave Wagner, a Charlotte TV reporter/talk show host with a soothing voice and intelligent commentary, on now.
EconWatcher
The Big Dog was great even for him, and i get the feeling we’re going to hear a whole lot from Sandra Flukein the future. She’s a star. Wish we were running her for Senate from Mass. I’m sorry, but to me (and my wife) Warren was awful, just unwatchable.
Valdivia
@SiubhanDuinne:
gah these Republicans are so fucking stupid and petty.
Also–that post by Nate Silver that it could never be the weather that caused the switch was so tendentious. Drives me mad.
And thanks for asking. All my peeps are ok. It was impossible to get through on the phone but caught up with them via internet. Lack of electricity, lots of aftershocks. But basically things are ok. Last time I was there we had one more or less like this: no fun I tell ya! Felt like the earth was opening up.
Elizabelle
Personally, I missed the Medicaid mention. Did hear “autism and other conditions”.
Medicaid came really late in the speech; was probably blogging or chatting by then.
So I am glad mistermix addressed it, and hope bloggers take up the crusade.
Thinking a lot of folks probably listened with less attention by the time WJC rolled out this important point.
Lot of meat in that speech.
Kay
@EconWatcher:
I don’t know about other women, but the WoW makes me nearly incoherently angry. I cannot start without ending in a rant. That the person who was the personal target of those horrible people was able to stay so composed yet so effective is amazing to me. That takes an enormous amount of discipline. Great advocate. Great job.
Elizabelle
@EconWatcher:
Watched Eliz Warren on the rebroadcast, and the second time was better.
Maybe because I knew she’d ended strongly?
Wondering how much of perception of a speaker is them, and how much our own nervousness and expectations.
Steeplejack
@Valdivia:
What Woodrow book? Googling “Woodrow book” just gives me Woodrow Wilson and some Christian nutter.
mai naem
I heard the Medicare/Medicaid thing and just assumed it was Medicaid and he misstated it. I don’t think he was going by the teleprompter. Lawrence ODonnell said 40 percent was stuff that was not in the written speech and the teleprompter person was having a hard time keeping up. He made a few other minor errors. When he was talking about jobs under Dems and Rep he said 21 million for Reps and 42 for Dems instead of 42 million. I hope the Repubs don’t run that as an ad because I think they just stupid enough to do it.
Dennis SGMM
@Steeplejack:
I think that she meant “Woodward book.”
Phylllis
@Steeplejack: I think she means the new Bob Woodward book.
Nina
Sandra Fluke seems to be a devotee of the “Don’t Get Mad, Get Even” school. She’ll be dancing on the grave of Rush Limbaugh’s cancelled show before she’s done. I eagerly anticipate that moment.
Valdivia
@Steeplejack:
sorry this thing by Woodward. I blame my typo on caffeine :)
ETA: link http://politicalwire.com/archives/2012/09/05/how_obama_annoyed_ryan.html
BTW: been off grid a bit so I want to know how the little princess is doing? Acclimated?
And Politics and Prose is having a reading at 6 on Sat for the New New Deal book in case you want to check it out. I love the book so the reading should be fun.
debit
I honestly am not seeing how anyone could think Warren did a poor job with her speech last night. I thought she was strong, made her points, was engaging and ended with a nice flourish. At first I thought maybe it was just because I was predisposed to like her, but I had to turn off an Amy Klobuchar (who I also like, perhaps not as much) speech during her first campaign because (to me) it was just awful; embarrassingly bad, in fact. I’ve never wanted to listen to her speak again.
Robin G.
I saw Warren for the first time last night and was really impressed. People who don’t like her, what is it that bugs you? (Not being snarky, I genuinely want to know.)
El Cid
Those fucking parasite Down Syndrome kids and seniors in their luxury nursing homes need to get the hell out and get some jobs.
rikyrah
I totally am appreciative of what Clinton said about Medicaid…can’t be said enough.
rikyrah
@Robin G.:
I don’t know because I love Elizabeth Warren. she speaks the truth in clear terms.
Elizabelle
@Valdivia:
From your link:
I love that, when it’s reported that Paul Ryan “hightailed it” out of a meeting with Obama, the first reader comment asks his time.
Hey, Ryan brought it on himself.
Bobby Thomson
He doesn’t wonder. He affirmatively states that Clinton made a mistake. And people think we don’t like Klein because he doesn’t have stars on thars. It’s because his sole claim to fame is being a policy wonk and he doesn’t grasp simple stuff like this.
Bobby Thomson
@Valdivia: Pfft. The move indoors is just 2012 for Greek columns. They gotta make noise about something and nobody will care next week.
leinie (iPad)
@Kay: Agreed. This makes me so pissed I’d just be screaming at them and sheis so composed.
Michele C.
@Kay: I used to work in a really expensive retirement community, but that doesn’t mean that everyone leaves the place rich. Plus, they had a program to give away a certain number of spots to those who couldn’t afford it otherwise. Clinton did not/not misspeak. Medicaid is crucial to a lot of nursing home bound seniors. Just Google “Medicaid and nursing home” and a whole lot of actual nursing home sites will pop up explaining how it works.
As Kay said, the middle class would have their savings wiped out if Medicaid didn’t step in to help take care of their parents’ expenses after their parents’ savings have been wiped out.
blondie
@PurpleGirl: You are precisely right.
I hope the older people the GOP is trying to tempt with their “the voucher program won’t affect your benefits at allll” malarkey hear this. Additionally, since Romney’s plan would eat up the funds for Medicare by 2016, you better be dead by then, or, tough luck, oldie.
grandpa john
@rikyrah: Speaking the truth is why some people don’t like her
Ruckus
@Kay:
@PurpleGirl:
Kay, I’ll bet that a lot of people that end up using Medicaid are listed as poor because they have to spend all their own money before they can use it. They are poor at that point no matter what they were before.
Both my parents had to use it and both had to spend every dime of the few they had to qualify. I’m not sure that is good or bad except that finding a nursing home that was not a dump and that could be afforded on Medicaid was way too much wasted energy. Now that I’m staring down the branch of road that leads to old age and the attendant old health myself, with no one to help negotiate that path, that my parents had… Fortunately I don’t have to worry about depleting my vast holdings first, life has taken care of that.
Ruckus
@Elizabelle:
When I hear people say that the speaker didn’t move them I always have to ask if they listened more to the delivery and less to the words.
We are hiring people to be lawmakers and represent us. It would be nice that they could stand up and give rousing speeches but not everyone has that quality. I have had to speak before large groups and for me it is not a problem to stand up there and quite possibly make an ass of myself. For others it is just not possible to do. Everyone falls somewhere on that scale. We are all wired differently and this is one place where it really shows. That does not make her a worse politician or senator, it just means she is not a fabulous public speaker. And she is up there with some greats.
Violet
@Ruckus: Yes, you still have to be broke to qualify for Medicaid. A friend’s parent is in this position now and I’ve learned a lot about it from her.
Greyjoy
I don’t think I agree with this. As of now, 40% of women in this country are breadwinners, and more women hold degrees and advanced degrees than men do–and the gap is increasing. I think somebody will have to stay home with Grandpa but I don’t think it’s a guarantee by any means that it’ll be women who do.
I do think that we are approaching a perfect storm of financial calamity in this country. Corporations are increasingly pushing the cost of benefits off onto employees–for health care, retirement, etc. and at the same time they are manipulating their workforce so that fewer people qualify for those benefits. And they are aging people out of the employment pool very early–people in their 50s and even in their upper 40s are having a bear of a time finding gainful employment despite their education and experience.
Combine that with crippling student loans which can’t be discharged through bankruptcy, and a stripped-down Medicare where seniors can’t afford care anymore, and suddenly we have a country where most of the population is about to take a nosedive into dire poverty. They can’t get a job, they can’t pay their loans for their education (much less help their children get an education), and they have to stay home to take care of Grandma with Alzheimer’s…I just can’t understand why anyone in this country would consider this a positive direction, or even a PROFITABLE direction.
Greyjoy
I don’t think I agree with this. As of now, 40% of women in this country are breadwinners, and more women hold degrees and advanced degrees than men do–and the gap is increasing. I think somebody will have to stay home with Grandpa but I don’t think it’s a guarantee by any means that it’ll be women who do.
I do think that we are approaching a perfect storm of financial calamity in this country. Corporations are increasingly pushing the cost of benefits off onto employees–for health care, retirement, etc. and at the same time they are manipulating their workforce so that fewer people qualify for those benefits. And they are aging people out of the employment pool very early–people in their 50s and even in their upper 40s are having a bear of a time finding gainful employment despite their education and experience.
Combine that with crippling student loans which can’t be discharged through bankruptcy, and a stripped-down Medicare where seniors can’t afford care anymore, and suddenly we have a country where most of the population is about to take a nosedive into dire poverty. They can’t get a job, they can’t pay their loans for their education (much less help their children get an education), and they have to stay home to take care of Grandma with Alzheimer’s…I just can’t understand why anyone in this country would consider this a positive direction, or even a PROFITABLE direction.
Ruckus
@Violet:
Is this a wonderful country or what?
Conservatives want us to spend every penny at their old folks home before we die. And they want us to die the moment they take the last one.
What would it be like if we had a proper first world healthcare system?
Ruckus
Look at Calvin and Hobbs today the sixth.
Another Halocene Human
Clinton was killing it with that portion of the speech.
He did mean to say Medicare. His point was that we tend to dismiss Medicaid when we talk about Medicare, but Medicaid is part and parcel of healthcare for seniors and middle class families are depending upon it. He definitely meant to say that–to say, listen up, when they talk about slashing Medicaid, they are talking about what you think of as “my medicare”.
sam dobermann
For low income seniors Medicaid will cover part or all of the Medicare premium and the premium if any on the prescription drug coverage, Medicaid also helps with the copays.
But it is not just nursing homes but home health care which can be way cheaper than a nursing home and more comfortable too. It can provide some payment to family member care takers.
What actually will happen is that states will go broke when Medicaid is cut. People will insist on services; they will keep coming to hospital ER rooms, doctors and nurses will stage protests. The news papers will keep publishing stories and finally state taxes will have to be raised.
But we will lose the benefit of all the cost cutting and care quality improvement that is in the ACA.
Pausch
what are a quality and even well-known internet sites to get blogs and forums???