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MADISON: Here’s the latest on the GOP Tax Scam bill, that primarily benefits the wealthy and corporations at long-term expense to the rest of the taxpayers and damaged access to health care. Now it is shown to be weakening Medicare as well.
Shot:
@GovWalker says @realDonaldTrump should be talking about the Republican tax cut bill with families affected every week, “if not every day.”
Source: https://twitter.com/sbauerAP/status/1004444987340283905
Chaser:
A new report reveals the Trump tax plan is “weakening the financial underpinnings” of Medicare.
Excerpts from the Washington Post story below:
The financial future of the part of Medicare that pays older Americans’ hospital bills has deteriorated significantly, according to an annual government report that forecasts that the trust fund will be depleted by 2026 — three years sooner than expected a year ago.
The report, issued Tuesday by a quartet of Trump administration officials who are trustees for Medicare and Social Security, reveals that policy changes ushered in by the president and the Republican Congress are weakening the financial underpinnings of the already fragile insurance program.
According to the report, less money will be flowing into the hospital-care trust fund in part because the tax law passed this year will cause the government to collect less in income taxes. In addition, lower wages last year will translate into lower payroll taxes.
As revenue slips, hospital expenses will increase, the report says. A senior government official who briefed reporters on it said that part of that increase is because the tax law will, starting next year, end enforcement of the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that most Americans carry health insurance. As a result, hospitals are predicted to have more uninsured patients, in turn requiring the Medicare program to pay more for such uncompensated care.
