The Chris Cuomo Project - Why Slashing Medicaid Could Cost Trump Big

Episode Date: February 20, 2025

Chris Cuomo breaks down how Medicaid has become the battleground for political and economic fights in America, exposing the hypocrisy of conservative states that rely on federal funding while opposing government spending. He explores how Medicaid expansion has reshaped red and blue states, the real impact of cutting healthcare for the poor, and whether Trump will go along with Republican efforts to gut the program. With millions of Americans—including pregnant women, children, and people with disabilities—depending on Medicaid, Cuomo warns that slashing it for tax cuts will have serious consequences and explains why this issue could become a major political trap for Trump in 2025. Follow and subscribe to The Chris Cuomo Project on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube for new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday: https://linktr.ee/cuomoproject Join Chris Ad-Free On Substack: http://thechriscuomoproject.substack.com Support our sponsors: Select Quote Get the right life insurance for YOU, for LESS, at SELECTQUOTE.COM/CHRISC Shopify Upgrade your business and get the same checkout AllBirds or Aviator Nation uses. Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial period at SHOPIFY.COM/chrisc AG1 It’s never too late to create a new, healthy habit for 2025. So try AG1 for yourself – it’s something I’ve actually been able to stay consistent with and that’s why I’ve been partnering with AG1 for so long! And AG1 is offering new subscribers a FREE $76 gift when you sign up. You’ll get a Welcome Kit, a bottle of D3K2 AND 5 free travel packs in your first box. So make sure to check out DrinkAG1.com/ccp to get this offer! RadioActive Media Go to RadioActiveMedia.com or Text “CHRIS” to 511 511 Message and Data Rates May Apply. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Support for the Chris Cuomo project comes from select quote. Listen, if you're in the family game and you want to take care of your family and your provider and you have your kids, right, and your significant other, you need to have a plan that includes insurance. Because otherwise you're just not being responsible for yourself. I wanted to avoid it. I didn't know if it was because I had fears of like, does that mean I'm like jinxing myself and wanting myself to die or isn't it a waste and don't I have a long time to do it or not? There's so many different products. That also was kind of daunting to me. That's why they made SelectQuote. It's one of America's leading insurance brokers.

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and get started. That's selectquote.com slash Chris C. Medicaid is going to dominate the budgeting process and the political process. It's a huge problem. It's a huge opportunity. process. It's a huge problem. It's a huge opportunity. Who will make the most of it? Do you know what you need to know? Here are the right answers. I'm Chris Cuomo. Welcome to The Chris Cuomo Project. Medicaid is America. It is a metaphor for what she is at her best and her worst. Her biggest challenge, her best blessing, the proof that government works, the proof that government overreaches, the toxicity between right and left, and the hypocrisy at play in that tension. And there are things you need to know. The first thing you have to know about Medicaid, okay,

is it is everywhere. It keeps growing and expanding. Why? Because of need. Started in 1965, it was part of the package to spruce up social security, which started off as an insurance program. And they were like, you know,

if we're gonna do insurance of what are these emergency needs, we should probably throw one in for the poor. And that's where Medicaid came from. And then there was the elderly and supplementing what the elderly need on top of what they get from Medicaid, and that was Medicare.

Let's put Medicare to the side. Nobody wants to touch Medicare, why? Old people vote. Why does nobody touch Medicare. Why? Old people vote. Why does nobody touch Medicare? Old people vote and people vote about the old people in their lives as much as they do the kids in their lives. Especially now as you have a whole generation of baby boomers that are watching their parents die and seeing how screwed up our long-term care and our elder care deal is in this country or lack of a

deal, that's why they don't touch Medicare. But Medicaid has always been the boogeyman for the right. And here's the screwed up part about it. The right needs Medicaid more than the left does. Everybody needs it. You got over 80 million people in this country, almost all of them among the vulnerable class, pregnant women, kids, kids with disabilities, low income elderly, people with special needs,

all for healthcare costs, okay? We knew healthcare was gonna be a bear in the 60s. That's how long that industry has been working us over. That in the 60s, Medicaid was born as a response to healthcare costs. And over the years, if you just do a quick Google, you'll see that the legislative expansions of Medicaid were always about two things. Okay? One was the state saying, give me, give me, give me, give me, give me, give me, give me,

give me. It was supposed to start off mostly state with some federal supplementation, but the states have not been able to meet the needs. So they bitch about spending in government all the time talking about the federal government, right? States are always talking about that. Why is the state beholden to the Fed? Why is the Fed tax burden so high?

That's why, because you need help paying your bills in all these states. And when I say you, I mean right as much as left. There are more poor red states than there are poor blue states. Now, there's plenty of poverty everywhere. Don't get me wrong. It's one of the most ignored things in America's reality. But, but, but. The difference is, there are these weird politics on the right that resist federal government spending, like Medicaid, but you need it more.

So as a result, you have blue states expand Medicaid every time there's an option for them to get supplemental funding from the federal government. Red states, some do, some don't, because it's this pushback against government overreach and government control and more spending. But then you have worse health care coverage in those states. So now what you're seeing is some of those states, after the most recent expansions like from Obamacare, the ACA, and then the pandemic, you saw states like, I don't know, South Dakota, Mississippi, some other, you know, states like that started having referenda votes to expand Medicaid because the governors didn't expand it as kind of an FU to the federal government. People aren't getting covered there. You have more coverage

for health care among the poor in California than you do in Mississippi. Why? Because Mississippi plays this fake, hard-ass game where they don't need the money. Yeah, you do. You're one of the poorest states. You have one of the poorest populations. And you have hunger issues.

You have weird diseases and illnesses in that state that you shouldn't have in America, but you do because you don't fund it, because you think that there's some power in your austerity. It's a huge opportunity for Democrats. It's a huge opportunity for reasonable people. It's a huge opportunity for anybody except these Fugazi conservatives.

And here's why, I believe in conservativism, I think it's a real thing. I'm saying the Fugazi ones, the fake ones, who say, oh, we don't want what the Feds gonna give us. The federal government should be smaller, but then people in your state suffer. Medicaid is the metaphor for America. And if Trump goes along with this Republican push to take a bite out of Medicaid, he's gonna feel that bite in his ass. Okay?

Hear me now. Believe me later. Okay. You go after Medicaid, you are messing with the people who need help most in this country. And that is something that is not going to be a good look for a president who wants to be considered one of the greatest. To put more pressure on the poor at the same time that you're giving a tax cut to the rich? Seriously? You're going to cut from Medicaid to give tax cuts to wealthy people. Now you'll say,

well no, it's for everybody tax cuts in the middle class. Look, we did the math the last time. We'll do it again this time. The best estimate from Trump's perspective was 75-25 top tier benefits to mid and lower tier benefits of the tax cuts. The Democrats will come back at me and say, no, it was over 80 percent went to the top 1 percent, whatever. I'm saying the most generous reading I've seen was 75-25. It was not a middle class tax cut. And to take it out of the ass out of the poorest people to pay for that is really messed up. Now, why would the Republicans do that? That's their game. The fringe conservative game is the power of the impoverished, which means they don't have any. They're not gonna come back and bite us. They don't really vote. They're poor.

They don't have the money. Who will be their champion? Who will step up and own that these people matter in America, especially when a lot of them are in red states? So the real focus of it is healthcare, okay? People think of Medicaid and they think it's like a handout. It's for sick people and for people who need assistance with disabilities, for pregnant women,

because of the birth rate, which is going the wrong direction in this country in terms of how healthy our pregnancies are. I mean, there's real stuff. When I did the research for this piece, I was like, holy cow, we got some real problems. And you also see these other imbalances. You see this red-blue imbalance,

you see this rich-poor imbalance, and you see this federal-state imbalance also. State governments are fricking broke, okay? They need the federal money so much, especially for health insurance, that they had to keep expanding Medicaid. In 1965, 1980, 1990s, you know, in 2000, just look, this thing just keeps growing and growing.

And it's not because of waste, it's because of need. I'm sure you'll find waste everywhere. Everywhere people aren't playing with their own money, you find waste, you find fraud, you find abuse because people are trying to take advantage. I'm not saying you can't find waste, you find fraud, you find abuse, because people are trying to take advantage. I'm not saying you can't find it, but I'm saying that just because you find it, first of all, everyone finds it. Elon Musk is nothing new.

Okay? Reagan called it the grace initiative. He actually used the phrase clean up the swamp. That was Reagan who started that, not Trump, by the way. But the idea that Musk, I can't believe he hasn't found more already. Nobody's ever failed to find waste, fraud and abuse. I don't understand why we're acting like this is new. What is new is this idea that Medicaid can be a piñata for tax cuts.

And I think that this is a huge trap that's being set for Trump by Republicans intentionally or unintentionally. Because you see, when you look at the history of this program, it just keeps expanding and you see what happened. Do you remember, if you look back, the Republicans took this huge beating under Obama. And the second term too, and there was a reason for it, that ACA expansion, so Obamacare says, hey states, you can expand Medicaid and cover more poor people and do within 138% of the poverty level, which still means that you're making like nothing.

Even though you're making over twice what poverty is, you're still not even close to being able to survive in America. How do we know? Because they're eligible for food stamps, what they call Chips Act, all the supplemental help for young kids, for pregnancies, they check almost every box.

So Obama says if states want to expand, they can, okay? 10 red states don't, pretty much all the blue ones do. All of the numbers of coverage and of all the main metrics of healthfulness and things that you wanna watch with impoverished populations go the wrong way when those red states do them dirty and refuse to expand. So for the political win of saying,

we're not gonna take the money, you hurt your people. Isn't that interesting? The power of politics over people. And in the ACA's expansion thing, that's where you got this imbalance where California winds up having better healthcare coverage of a population than Little Mississippi. Because they didn't expand it

in some kind of misplaced sense of austerity. And that is the overarching reality of Medicaid, is that is the overarching reality of Medicaid, is that is the people who need the most help, who we say we're supposed to be the most committed to, and they're the fastest growing part of our population. It's very scary. Support for the Chris Cuomo Project comes from AG1.

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kit, a bottle of D3K2, and five free travel packs in your first box. So, make sure to check out drinkag1.com slash CCP for the Chris Cuomo Project, show us some love, to get this offer. That's drinkag1.com slash CCP to start your new year on a healthier note. Support for the Chris Cuomo Project comes from being, I have to be honest, I don't sleep well, I don't go to sleep quickly, I am a very light sleeper and it has effects. I don't sleep well. I don't go to sleep quickly. I am a very light sleeper and it has effects. I don't recover. I don't grow. I don't lose weight the way I want to because I am not sleeping. That's why I'm so excited to talk about Beans Dream Powder. This is a science-backed, healthy hot cocoa for sleep. You had me at hot cocoa, right?

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Think about it, this Valentine's Day, take care of yourself. Love yourself. Take care of yourself with AG1. It's never too late to create a new healthy habit, okay, for any year, let alone 2025. So try AG1 for yourself. It's something I've actually been able to stay consistent with,

and that's why I've been partnering with AG1 for so long, and I'd love to do more. So AG1 is offering new subscribers a free $76 gift when you sign up. You'll get a welcome kit, a bottle of D3K2, and five free travel packs in your first box. So make sure to check out drinkag1.com slash CCP and you'll get this offer. That's drinkag1.com slash CCP to start your new year on a healthier note. I broke it down more for you about this, okay? This partnership is becoming more imbalanced in favor of the Fed over states every time

they alter it. Every time there's an alteration, the Fed's wind up having to give more money because the states are broken, the need is great. So the idea that the state just, the government just wastes money. Look at Medicaid. It's one of our three biggest line items, a head of defense. Poverty is huge in America. It's a huge unspoken reality.

How many people go to bed hungry? Now they have a new word for hungry. It's called food insecure. That's called hungry. Okay? called food insecure. That's called hungry, okay? Food insecurity is the new woke way of saying, you're dead-ass broke. And it's going the wrong way in this country. Think about it.

In America, you know, if you wanted to invest in MAGA, make America great again, man, you should zero right in on that because we have done the poor dirty in this country. And if you wanna go with America first, great. But I don't wanna see some doge campaign with a bunch of engineers. I wanna see what you're gonna do for poor people.

And I don't want that money to go to you figuring out a way to give tax cuts to me. I don't need a tax cut. Do I want one? Yeah, selfishly sure. But we have a real problem with poverty. And one in five Americans, one in five Americans need Medicaid.

Four out of 10 kids in this country need Medicaid. That means they qualify as impoverished. In America, change the guidelines. We're being too lenient. Make them work a little bit more like I did, like my parents did. We worked hard. Obviously, you can't get it done now like you could then.

People are working themselves to death. Obesity rates, cardiac rates, cancer rates, addiction rates, poverty rates, hunger rates. You want to get fucking pissed off about something. We are failing the people who need us most, and there are a lot of these people. One in five, 40% of kids, almost 20%, one of every $5 of medical spending in this country, one in $5 of hospital spending is federally subsidized, because it has to be. Why? Two parts. One, not making enough money, not

being trained to make money, being sold on a promise of a non-STEM college degree that gets you dick except for debt. And the other part is cost out of control with health care. Attack the costs. Attack the costs of school. What the hell are we doing? This piece, probably more than anyone I've ever done, should make you so disgusted with the state of our politics. How we have allowed ourselves to be distracted from how the people who need help most in this country

are kicked to the fucking curb. In favor of what? Advantage? So AOC can pop off about why Trump's a Nazi and Elon Musk can get into snarky Twitter debates and the smarties of the left and the angry of the right can get in this battle about who's more about America. It's all bullshit.

Take care of the poor people. That's what Jesus told you to do. The least among you. You don't give a shit about them. And it's in the numbers. It's in the numbers. You want a cut from Medicaid. Wow.

For a tax cut? For the rich? And you want a cut from Medicaid. Wow, for a tax cut, for the rich, and you're a Christian, shit. 41% of all childbirths need federal subsidies. Five out of eight people in nursing homes. 23% of non-elderly adults with mental illness. 40% of adults, 20 to 65 with disabilities. Wow. And most of the states get at least half the money

from the Fed for these people. What does the federal government do? Why do we need it? Buh. Here's why. Do some homework, you stupid bastard. You probably are on the tit yourself. 65% of Medicaid coverage goes to GOP states

or states with lower incomes. When you take money from this program, boy Cuomo just loves to spend your money. No, I'm not getting it. I'm not getting the benefit. Do you understand? You not getting the benefit. Do you understand? You are getting the benefit. That's the part that doesn't make sense.

You're fighting against your own interests. If it's not you, it's your community. It's one in five people in the country. Don't you get it? This isn't about carrying the poor. Look at how many poor there are. Look at the need numbers that I just showed you, and I'm just highlighting them. Wow. And you're going to take the money for a tax cut for the top tier.

Now what if you were to alter it and say, well, he's going to use the money for a tax cut for the low tier. These people make so little money that they do not have much share of federal tax burden. That's how poor we're talking. And again, let me review to you, because look, I get it, I get how they play you on this. It sounds good, less government spending. It just does, it's less reaching in your pocket. It just sounds good, right?

Until you start to learn who's getting the money. The MAGA people are getting the money disproportionately. Disproportionately on two levels. Disproportionate by population, disproportionate by tax contribution to the federal government. Think about this. You want to cut it, you benefit from it more, and you pay into it less, and you want to cut it.

And the states that pay into it more and certainly need it, but less than you do, fight to keep it. That doesn't tell you that something's a little fucked up with the politics here. And you know who gets it? Trump. Now he may be swayed because tax cuts are such a shiny thing for him.

And they work so well in our politics. Although I don't think he's a tax cut away from greatness. And I think that he is absolutely a Medicaid cut away from destruction of his legacy, such as it is. 40% of adults 20 to 65 with disabilities. Every state needs at least 50 cents of every dollar subsidized by the federal government to take care of the poor when it comes to healthcare.

And again, this isn't welfare. This isn't, oh, so you don't have to work? You're sick. It's about sick people, pregnant people, kids who can't go to doctors, mentally ill, who can't get treatment.

This isn't a bag of Doritos and free cable. You see what I'm saying? 40% of adults with disabilities, 23% of people with mental illness who aren't elderly, because then they have Medicare. Five out of eight nursing home residents,

just that alone, who's gonna pay? You? Have you looked at what is in their nursing home costs? I have. Holy cow, we are messing with the most important part of the safety net. Support from the Chris Cuomo project comes from Oracle. Even if you think it's a bit overhyped, AI is a real thing and it's gonna be in more and more places and having more and more of an impact.

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Cuomo loves government spending. You know my answer to that is, fuck you. And here's why. Fuck you because you are full of shit about what matters. All right? I am not using Medicaid. All right? I am paying in more than just about anybody else in society

because I am all wage income. Most people who make decent money, good money, great money are equity players, capital gains players. I'm not. We have some money, you know, invested in the stock market, nothing big. I don't really mess with a lot of aggressive things because I'm always afraid of getting busted. I mean, that's a little bit weird, but I'm paranoid. So every dollar I make, well over half of it is taxed. So if there's somebody who's a rich guy who's supposed to be banging on for a tax cut,

it would be me, but I see the need. I was bathed in the need. I grew up in understanding how fundamental this is, how desperate it is, how devastating it is to you to have a sick kid that you can't get help. A pregnancy that you don't know is okay. One in five Americans need this help. You're telling one in five,

fuck you, we're gonna cut the layer. It's not enough now. It's not enough now. And I know it's expensive. Why the hell is it so expensive? Expensive costs and ability to contribute. You're not making enough money.

And we don't want to address these things. We want to talk about trans females that are my size playing sports in high school. We want to fight about what's free speech. And I'll do a piece for you on that. You can see what we say about free speech here, And I'll do a piece for you on that. You can see what we say about free speech here. But these are distractions.

This is a fucking emergency. Okay? 19% of all medical spending in the country, almost one out of every $5 spent towards health care comes from Medicaid. Now you can look at that and say, yeah, that's too much, we should cut it. You're missing it. These are desperate people. This isn't for me. This isn't to get this big fricking thing on my face fixed. This is emergency medical services for the least of means.

And you want to cut it in favor of a tax cut for me? Well, it's gonna trickle down. That shit has never worked. I don't know why these people play with this when it's so obvious. Tax cuts under President Trump did not pay for themselves. The pandemic was not the initial ballooning of the deficit. His tax cuts were. Do the homework.

And don't look for some fugazi outlier place that comes up with an analysis that no one else accepts. They didn't pay for themselves. Trickle down is not a thing. Noblesse oblige. You know what that is? This Latin expression that comes from Elizabethan times that, remember, let them eat cake? That's noblesse oblige. You get what I give you. What falls off my table. that's trickle down. I can't eat anymore. I'm fucking stuffed. Here you go.

Here you go. Like the dog. No, not in America. We got to be better than that. And this is why Medicaid was created in 1965. Cuomo loves big government. That's not the issue. How are you going to cover one in five Americans?

We don't have enough coverage now. People die in this country and are sick and chronically ill in this country all the time because they can't get adequate access to healthcare. Long COVID, all of these related illnesses that people are getting, they can't get any of this shit covered. I'm living it with my doctor.

I'm seeing it. I'm trying to raise money on my sub stack. You know, some of you people like Cuomo, easy on the hustle. Hey, where do you think the money's going? Why do you think I want you to subscribe to the sub stack? Because I don't wanna read ads. I don't want, I want you to be free of commercials.

Commercials are what powered the business. They're all over the place. I started watching YouTube now more than, is it commercial every eight seconds? I'm asking you to subscribe because I'm using the money to help my doctor give people long COVID treatment because they can't fucking afford it. And it's not a luxury. They're sick.

What the hell is wrong with us? You want to be mad at something, be mad at this. Not what Trump says, not what Vance says about free speech in Munich, not what Trump says about not knowing about Adam's deal to get the charges dropped. Of course he's full of shit. Push him back to this. Fuck Adams. No disrespect to the mayor. You know how I felt about that case. I felt that it was not as impressive as the feds were pretending it was.

But now it's a whole political maelstrom we'll see. I'm saying fuck the Adams issue. Fuck it. Focus on this. This matters. Illegal immigrants. It's because of the illegal immigrants. Because a lot of illegal entrants in this country are working with fake social security numbers so their bullshit employers can get away with hiring people for substandard wages. And then they wind up paying money. They say the estimate is, now I don't know how they don't know

how many people are using fake social security numbers, but they do know how much they're contributing to the tax rolls. It's such a head fake, you know what I mean? So you know that they put $22 billion a year into the social security trust fund, but you don't know how many are working illegally. It's such a bullshit head in the sand situation.

But the point is, illegal entrants are just bloodsuckers, right? They're just leeches. Well, what about this? What about that most of them are paying in to Social Security, who are working, and they don't get any benefit of that money. They don't get Medicaid. They don't qualify for it. So they don't get't get Medicaid. They don't qualify for it. So they don't get social security benefits. They don't qualify for it. So it's, you know, you're being sold bullshit to propel a position. Just see it.

See it for what it is. And when they say they want to cut Medicaid because it's too big, Cuomo loves big government, Democrats love big government. Look, I don't love anything. I am a pragmatic person when it comes to policy. There are principles I think matter in America. Like what? Doing for those who can't do for themselves. And the numbers are staggering and growing and you want to cut doing for those who can't do for themselves. And the numbers are staggering and growing and you wanna cut the safety net that is already not enough, the nut that states can't cover.

Do you know what will happen to red states if you cut Medicaid? Everybody's moving to Texas, right? Hold onto your fucking hats. Hold onto your hats. Okay? Because they have a big population of poor there and the state's gonna pick up the tab for all of them. So you're running down there

for your little tax benefits there, right? You richie richies who can stand that dry heat in the culture down there? Let's see what happens when they cut Medicaid. See what happens. One in when they cut Medicaid. See what happens. One in five Americans need Medicaid. Now you're going to absorb it with your tax burden in the states? Every time it comes up, you get a handful of red states who said they don't want to

expand and they all suffer as a result. One in five Americans, 40% of kids, one in five of every dollars spent on healthcare costs and hospital spending. It's all part of Medicaid. 40% of births, Medicaid, where's it gonna come from? And you think that it's not gonna have a negative impact? That's why this is such a big issue. Now, last point. It's not going to have a negative impact. That's why this is such a big issue.

Now, last point. The opportunity here is to not just do what I'm doing right now. I am not in office. I will never be in office. I do not want your vote. I will never ask for it. But people have, as Democrats. The opportunity here is not to just scold Trump.

You need better ideas for how to make Medicaid work for more people better, how to be more cost effective. Remember, the sweet spot on taxation and population is finding the spot where people are willing to pay taxes because of how they trust that you are using the money. The problem isn't as simple as I don't wanna pay taxes, it's I think you waste my money.

That's why Doge is so attractive. And it's such an interesting and fruitful political play. The opportunity for Democrats is not to just shake the finger at Trump. Because he's gonna say, I don't wanna cut it. It's Congress. He will not take the blame. You need better things to cut.

Like why hasn't the word Pentagon come out of my mouth? It's a top five budget item. What matters more, the largesse of our military or taking care of the poor? To me, it's not a close call. If you, and here's why, Pakistan, India, North Korea, maybe, maybe, Iran, maybe, not two maybes, one maybe. Russia, Israel, a handful of others, nuclear capable. You don't need a big military once you have that

because there's an existential threat there. We have been living a lie since the Cold War about the need for the military industrial complex. You need one example of this. Look at the F-35. That budget is up like a thousand percent since they started it. It's in the many trillions of dollars for one fucking fighter jet. Not per jet, but for one class of jet.

That's okay, but we're going to niggle about every nickel when it comes to Medicaid. But you're going to go in for trillions for one type of fighter jet. That's the opportunity for Democrats. That's the opportunity for independents. That's the opportunity for critical thinkers. They have kicked the wrong hive with Medicaid. They have made a mistake. They have showed their hand of the heartlessness of their motivations.

Well, but we just want government to spend less. It doesn't work as an argument because the states will have to cover the cost and they can't. You are basically telling the least among us you're going to get fucked for the wealthy because the states will not be able to pick up the costs. This can only result in every amount of reduction, every bit of every percentage of reduction will be a reduction in service, access to healthcare, pregnancies, sick kids, mentally ill, elderly in nursing homes.

You are gonna have less people taken care of and you're gonna have to own it. And there's an opportunity in that, but you gotta show something better to take care of these people as well or better than they are right now by finding what you need somewhere else. That's the opportunity.

Will Democrats take it? I don't know, we'll live it in real time, but you will understand what this is. Since 1965, it's been a growing and evolving somewhat safety net under the people who need it most. This is not a bullshit policy. You want to talk bullshit, look at the Pentagon. You want to talk bullshit, look at some of the other regulatory agencies. Medicaid is not bullshit.

It is the truth of two realities in our society. There are too many people who don't make enough money to deal with the ever-rising costs of health care in this country. I don't know what the solution is, but I know that you should be attacking them as a problem. And I haven't heard one fucking word said about this until right now as a bullshit budget item. You want to go after waste, fraud and abuse? Great. Great. Find it wherever you find it. I'm sure it's in Medicaid. I'm sure. I'm sure it's in anything that has to

do with government disbursements. But that does not justify taking care away from people. You should create efficiencies, sure. But if you wanna talk about going after people, go after the people charging the money. Go after the people making the money, not the people who don't have it to pay for the most essential of needs. That's what Medicaid is about. That's what it's always been about.

That's why they keep expanding it. Just do the homework or just listen to this a couple of times. Every time they've considered it, they've expanded it. And those states that have fought it have lost as a result. Or certainly the people in their states who are anywhere near the poverty line have lost. And that's why people in some of those red states have fought for it with referenda. This is a no brainer need. Now you know, what will you do with that information? Let's get after it. I'm Chris Cuomo.

Thank you for being here with me at the Chris Cuomo Project. You gotta know before you blow. You can't just get on Twitter and start talking shit when you don't know what you're talking about. Now you know. Now you know what this is and who needs it and where and how many and how much. And you'll be armed with that when you start hearing that they just arbitrarily want to kind of like hack a big piece of it off because of waste fraud and abuse they are going to be going way closer to the bone than that outer layer of fat and skin I'm telling you that right now and they're going to try to blow you back with how big the numbers are and that cutting 800 billion is really not that big a deal think about who's going to be affected and which states cannot pick up the slack because most of them can't.

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