WASHINGTON — Rep. Gary Palmer (R-Ala.) was in the middle of explaining why vulnerable Americans wouldn’t lose benefits as a result of the GOP’s proposed changes to Medicaid when a scream interrupted him.
“You will kill me,” a woman in the audience of the House Energy and Commerce Committee room yelled. She added in a loud voice that she is HIV-positive and her drugs cost $10,000 a month. Palmer waited silently as police pulled and pushed her wheelchair from the room.
Americans with disabilities, many in wheelchairs, were an overwhelming presence at the committee meeting where Republicans jump-started the process of passing legislation with significant cuts to Medicaid, which covers health care costs for 70 million Americans. Police arrested 26 people for interrupting the meeting or blocking the hallway.
Republicans spent the length of the meeting insisting the cuts, which are part of the legislation encompassing President Donald Trump’s biggest domestic policy goals, would preserve Medicaid for the people who really need it, especially those with disabilities.
“Our priority remains the same: strengthen and sustain Medicaid for those whom the program was intended to serve: expectant mothers, children, people with disabilities, and the elderly,” committee Chair Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) said in his opening statement.
