Democrats are justifying shutting down the government to fight for lower healthcare costs, but do not appear to be changing course despite some Americans losing access to healthcare services during the funding lapse.
Telehealth and home care coverage for millions of Medicare beneficiaries expired on Wednesday at midnight due to Democrats tanking a government funding bill that would have extended certain healthcare programs. The Daily Caller News Foundation on Wednesday spoke to more than ten Democrats who signaled they would not relent their hardball tactics despite some seniors losing access to healthcare services and argued that fighting the president was more important.
“It’s really hard,” Democratic Vermont Sen. Peter Welch told the DCNF when asked about millions of Americans losing coverage to certain healthcare services. “Trump has put us in this horrible position. Where do we appease him when there’s no end to his demands or do we have a shutdown?”
“We’ve chosen to stand and fight,” Welch continued. “But [it’s a] very, very difficult situation for the country.”
Democratic Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego made a similar argument while defending his party’s effort to shut down the government over various healthcare priorities.
“It’s tough obviously,” Gallego told the DCNF when asked about certain Americans losing access to healthcare services during the shutdown. “It’s just really — it’s hard.”
A handful of Senate Democrats have sharply criticized their colleagues for letting Americans lose certain benefits during a shutdown.
“Our goal is to do our jobs. It is not to have trade-offs,” Democratic Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto told the DCNF when asked about members of her caucus appearing torn over Medicare recipients’ benefits lapsing.
“And what I mean by this is to harm some Americans so that we can help others,” Cortez Masto continued. “Our goal should be avoiding that and helping everyone.”
Cortez Masto is one of three Democratic caucus members who has broken with her party to fund the government. She has argued that a funding lapse would be “costly” for her constituents.
Gallego and Welch have taken a different approach, voting with Schumer to keep the government shutdown — and certain government healthcare programs frozen — on Wednesday.
Democrats’ $1.5 trillion counter-proposal that Republicans have declared dead-on-arrival also reauthorized the programs.
Advocates of extending telehealth coverage for Medicare beneficiaries slammed lawmakers for failing to meet the Sept. 30 deadline and reauthorize the program.
“Medicare patients woke up this morning without telehealth coverage for the first time since the pandemic, five years ago,” Kyle Zebley, executive director, American Telehealth Association (ATA) Action and senior vice president, public policy at the ATA, said in a statement on Wednesday. “Our healthcare services are regressing, falling woefully short for millions of patients in need.”
The Acute Care Hospital at Home initiative, which allows certain Medicare recipients to receive in-patient level care at home, also lapsed Wednesday at midnight. The lapse in the program’s authorization could disrupt care for many Medicare recipients with more than 400 facilities across 39 states are enrolled in the program
A major hospital system in Boston, Massachusetts, halted admissions into its hospital at home program on Saturday in preparation for Congress failing to extend the program, Stat News first reported.
Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren blamed Republicans for certain Medicare benefits expiring when asked by the DCNF.
“We understand how badly the healthcare system is working, but it’s going to be so much worse if the Republicans continue on this path of cutting healthcare for millions of Americans,” Warren said.
Other Democratic lawmakers’ sought to blame Republicans for certain healthcare programs expiring despite repeatedly voting against a stopgap measure that would have extended them.
“Let’s be clear: the reason we’re here is because Republicans refuse to negotiate with Democrats to keep the government open and address these increased healthcare costs for families,” Democratic California Sen. Alex Padilla told the DCNF.
Padilla has voted against a bipartisan spending bill to fund the government three times.
Democratic Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy told the DCNF that he had not seen reporting that healthcare services were being frozen due to the shutdown and could not speak to the issue.
“I haven’t seen any list of, you know, services they’re cutting,” Murphy said. The Connecticut Democrat blamed the Trump administration for telehealth and home care coverage lapsing despite the services being frozen due to the Democrats’ votes for a shutdown.
Democratic California Sen. Adam Schiff did not speak after hearing the DCNF’s question about healthcare services lapsing during the shutdown.
A spokesperson for Schiff did not respond to a request for comment before publication.
Senate Republicans have argued that the political fallout for Democrats shutting down the government will ultimately become so overwhelming that the party will cave and restore government funding.
The New York Times published a survey on Tuesday that found 65% of Americans oppose Democrats’ shutting down the government if all of their policy “demands are not met.”
“Ultimately, members are going to see the damage that their shutdown is causing to the American people, whether it’s veterans who aren’t getting health care, whether it’s [the] military who aren’t going to get paychecks, and they’re going to see that it’s time to reopen the government,” Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, the second-ranking Senate Republican, told reporters on Wednesday.
Andi Shae Napier and Caden Olson contributed to this report.
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