Donald Trump and maga Republicans attacking healthcare with Medicaid cuts devastating patient access to financially stressed hospitals

Donald Trump and maga Republican attacks on healthcare is expensive and dangerous:  Echo opinion letter published in the Ottowa News Network, in Michigan: ONN is a nonprofit newsroom that ensures all people in Ottawa County have access to trusted news.

All people have a fundamental right to healthcare, and, as a society, it benefits us to have people who are healthy in terms of people’s ability to work, the reduction of spreading illness, and curbing mental health crises.

A wrong minded, misleading and unsupported opinion in USA Today that claims Medicaid has been disconnected from helping its recipients to find work. It also claims that tens of millions of able-bodied adults are trapped in government dependency and not flourishing because they are not working.

The piece further purports that the cuts Donald Trump and Republicans made to Medicaid are not gutting Medicaid, but preserving the core of the safety net for the truly vulnerable and that he and his fellow Republicans are helping millions of able-bodied adults leave welfare and find work. He makes much the same claims for the SNAP program. This article completely ignores the facts.

The following statistics are from the Kaiser Family Foundation, an independent source for health policy research:

• 64% who receive Medicaid are already working either full- or part-time❗
• 12% are not working due to caregiving responsibilities.
• 10% are not working due to illness or disability.
• 7% are attending school to improve their ability to attain work.
• 8% are retired or unable to find work.

*Note: Total does not sum to 100%, due to rounding.

So, where are the tens of millions of able-bodied adults not working❓ The 64% who are working are in jobs that don’t offer healthcare to their employees, which is why they qualify for help. 

In addition, these people don’t earn enough to qualify for a premium subsidy under the Affordable Care Act, making the ACA policies unaffordable.

The cuts made to Medicaid and the changes made to the Affordable Care Act are going to increase hospital prices as they seek to cover the costs of people showing up to the ER with no health insurance. Hospitals with emergency departments are required to treat patients without insurance with emergencies. Premiums will increase as health insurance companies seek to cover the higher hospital prices. Hospitals that see a larger number of Medicaid patients, particularly inner city and rural hospitals, may well close because they can’t make it financially.
So, how are Republicans going to reduce waste and fraud❓ They are going to waste people's time and fraudulently cheat people out of benefits they qualify for by saddling them with onerous paperwork and red tape. Many low-income workers work odd hours, making it difficult to complete the requirements.

Both Arkansas and Georgia have tried or currently have work requirements for Medicaid. Both had serious issues with their websites not functioning correctly and people unable to submit their paperwork, resulting in the denial of benefits. The websites are closed at night and clients have difficulty getting an actual person to resolve issues. Georgia has spent more than $91 million in state and federal funds launching, building and operating its eligibility reporting system that still has major glitches two years on. In the meantime, qualified recipients go without the health insurance they need and deserve.

All people have a fundamental right to healthcare, and, as a society, it benefits us to have people who are healthy in terms of people’s ability to work, the reduction of spreading illness, and curbing mental health crises. Republican attacks on the U.S. health system are shortsighted, expensive and dangerous for us all.

From Beverley Rannow in Holland, a city in Michigan

Donald Trump does not value vetarans, is incapable of showing honor to those who supported Americans that liberated Europe

The Dutch in Holldand honor our Amercan fallen soldiers better than we do here at home | Opinion

(Maine Writer:  My uncle was an Italian immigrant to the US, he joined his family in Pennsylvania in 1922 (?) when he was already 10 years old. When World War II was declared, he was drafted because his father- my grandfather- became an American citizen and made sure his son was naturalized. When my uncle was drafted, he served as a sargent on a tank in a unit that landed in Normandy, but the orders directed then through Europe towards Holland, where he was wounded while trying to escape a Nazi Luftwaffle attack on his tank. My uncle's unit was part of the US army that helped to liberate Holland from the Nazi occupation.)

World War II - Dutch Liberation Of The Netherlands

An echo opinion published in the Houston Chronicle

Memorial Day essay, Veterans and Donald Trump: Regarding “Grew up in Houston. Killed by Nazis. Remembered by the grateful Dutch. | Opinion,” (May 23): Thank you for the lovely op-ed about the Dutch care and concern for the American military graves.

My father ws a pilot in the 101st Airborne Division during World War II. I visited the place where he was buried by a village priest after his plane crashed in the battle called “Operation Market Garden.” He dropped paratroopers and pulled gliders.

This first burial place, near the city of Eindhoven, was green, tree-covered and beautifully maintained. On the monument’s left were the names of the Dutch soldiers. On the right were names of Allies, and it was very gratifying to see Lt. Colonel Ralph Lehr’s name in such a lovely place.

By contrast, his body, when taken home to western Oklahoma, was reburied near numerous relatives in a dry, windy, treeless graveyard in sight of the wheat fields that had brought immigrants to the Oklahoma Land Rush.

Many American soldiers lost their lives in the Market Garden battle after surviving D-Day. The British allies also lost many lives.

I was 18 months old, and my brother was 6 months old. My widowed mother was only 24.

I am horrified ❗ that the United States has Donald Trump, who is a president and convicted felon, who called these soldiers “suckers.” They were heroes who preserved the democracy that we seem to be losing. Equally disturbing is this president’s treating our allies so terribly as he upturns our economy. Maybe his bone spurs make him cranky.

From Sally Lehr, in Houston Texas

And this: My parents lived in Holland during World War II and witnessed firsthand the atrocities and heartache of living under Nazi oppression. I remember my father sharing the stories of liberation and gratitude to those who gave them back their freedom, but I was not aware that the Dutch continue to remember the sacrifices by visiting the Netherlands American Cemetery, placing flowers, saying prayers and honoring each American who gave their all. 

As the Dutch like to say, “Hup Holland!”

From Bill Van Rysdam, in Porter, Texas

Trumpzi fascism is a threat to national security

Letters to the Editor: If anything, Biden's recent speech didn't go far enough- echoes published in Michigan's The Holland Sentinel:

Trumpzi creating the epitome of #FakeNews:

Putting different words to it doesn't change the danger about what it is!

Donald Trump's latest analogy that the top-secret documents he held and recently discovered by the FBI were no more damaging to American security than an "overdue library book."😩 This must be the same analogy writer who came up with the January 6 attack on the capitol as a peaceful protest and as "Great Patriots" taking a normal ❓ tour. (#DoubleFakeNews!)

If Donald Trump runs for president again and is elected and we all lose our right to vote, cannot read the book we want to and witness sexual and religious persecutions beyond any compare, I can imagine the next Trump analogy will be something like "I didn't ruin democracy, I made America great again!"

Frank Miller in Park Township

If anything, President Joe Biden's recent speech didn't go far enough.

President Biden's "Soul of the Nation" speech on Thursday was spot-on, long overdue, and — if anything — did not go far enough. Trump and his supporters are indeed deplorables and semi-fascists. They are an affront to democracy and humanity in general.

Moreover, the sooner this cult movement is consigned to the ash heap of history, the better.

Gil Lalo in Holland, Michigan