Medicaid Quotes

Cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security benefits are unacceptable, and they shouldn't be put on the table by Democrats for any reason. ~ Russ Feingold

With its Medicaid expansion, Obamacare may turn out to be the most equality-promoting policy enacted in a generation. ~ Timothy Noah

The decision is 'trust fund' versus 'no more Medicaid' - and that shouldn't be a tough decision. ~ Haley Barbour

Medicaid and the Child Health Insurance Program are the two most important safety net programs for children. ~ Irwin Redlener

One thing governors feel, Democrats and Republicans alike, is that we have a health care system that, if you're on Medicaid, you have unlimited access to health care, at unlimited levels, at no cost. No wonder it's running away. ~ Mike Huckabee

A new report shows that medicare and Medicaid made more than $50 Billion in bad payments during fiscal year 2011. Under Obamacare, that'll become known as 'Tuesday.' ~ Fred Thompson

The Federal role in overcoming barriers to needed health care should emphasize health care financing programs-such as Medicare and Medicaid. ~ Gerald R. Ford

We cannot afford to lose the Medicaid funding for low-income women. ~ Kay Bailey Hutchison

Anybody that's asked, I've counseled that they not expand Medicaid eligibility. I've been critical of any expansion because you know what Washington does. It promises something for a finite period of time, and then it leaves you on the hook. ~ Tom Price

Common sense tells us that the government's attempts to solve large problems more often create new ones. Common sense also tells us that a top-down, one-size-fits-all plan will not improve the workings of a nationwide health-care system that accounts for one-sixth of our economy. ~ Sarah Palin

In 2003, GlaxoSmithKline paid $88 million in civil fines for overcharging Medicaid for its anti-depressant Paxil. ~ Bernie Sanders

How we continue to fund Medicare and Medicaid into the future is a pressing issue of national concern. ~ James T. Walsh

Our fiat currency is under increasing stress with our large and growing trade deficits. We have a federal deficit that is calculated in the trillions when we take into account the net present value of the future Social Security and Medicaid obligations we are creating today. ~ George Noory

Mark my words, there will be an intensive effort to privatize Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid. ~ Bernie Sanders

10. Medicaid patients who bitch about $1 copay, then go up front and buy cigarettes & beer. ~ Dennis Miller

If he'd been negotiating Obamacare, Lincoln would have made the infamous 'Cornhusker Kickback' deal - $100 million in Medicaid funds for Nebraska to secure a Senator's vote - in a heartbeat, even if the press howled as it did when Barack Obama agreed to it, forcing its cancellation. ~ Joe Klein

I think the Republican budget priorities are messed up. I salute for the way they're attacking some of the entitlement programs, but they are taking huge cuts, by pretending they're just block-granting it to the states, out of Medicaid, from the least fortunate. ~ David Brooks

What is Medicaid all about? It's staying true to the mission: to care for people historically left behind. ~ Risa Lavizzo-Mourey

Expanding Medicaid without fixing Medicaid is a terrible idea. ~ Bob McDonnell

General revenue - what taxpayers are willing to give government, what they think is fair to give government - is not going to grow at the same amount that the federal government basically forces us to spend on Medicaid. ~ Rick Scott

The American people I talk to don't spend every moment thinking, 'How can I tax my neighbor more than they're being taxed?' They say, 'How can I get a good job? How can my kids get good jobs? How can seniors have a confidence in their future when they know that Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are bankrupt?' ~ Mitt Romney

Simply expanding Medicaid does not improve health care outcomes. In Louisiana, instead we're helping people getting better paying jobs so they can provide for their own health care. ~ Bobby Jindal

Republican governors are more lunatic than they used to be - as attested by all the ones so eager to turn down free federal money to qualify more of their poor citizens for Medicaid under Obamacare. Meanwhile, some states have taken the money only to hoard it. ~ Rick Perlstein

No matter what federal program one selects - Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the drug war, the income tax and the IRS, education, foreign interventions and wars - they are all a giant mess. ~ Jacob G. Hornberger

Even before ObamaCare, the government took care of the bottom 5 or 10 percent of the public who were on Medicaid. ~ Rand Paul

One of the most infuriating elements of American myopia about investing in at-risk kids is that politicians often insist that they don't have the funds to pay for social services, but they somehow find the resources to pay for prisons later on. Republican lawmakers don't want to pay for $500 IUDs for low-income women, so they pay $17,000 for Medicaid births. They don't want to pay to reduce lead poisoning, even though that means paying for special education classes for years to come. ~ Nicholas D. Kristof And Sheryl WuDunn

You put me in charge of Medicaid, the first thing I'd do is get [female recipients] Norplant, birth-control implants, or tubal ligations. Then, we'll test recipients for drugs and alcohol, and if you want to [reproduce] or use drugs or alcohol, then get a job. ~ Russell Pearce

Planning is the essence of good management and when it comes to health care we must allow states to plan for future needs. We need to cement this federal commitment to Alaskans so the state has the assurance that money vital for providing Medicaid health care will not just dry up and disappear. ~ Lisa Murkowski

In fact, entitlement spending on programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security make up 54% of federal spending, and spending is projected to double within the next decade. Medicare is growing by 9% annually, and Medicaid by 8% annually. ~ Jim Ryun

If we were to expand Medicaid, for every uninsured person we would cover, we'd kick more than one person out of private insurance or remove their opportunity to get private insurance. We're going to have too many people in the cart rather than pulling the cart. ~ Bobby Jindal

So often, generalizations don't apply to Catholic voters. Catholics are concerned about the war, the economy, about issues like abortion, issues pertaining to the budget and funding Medicaid and Medicare and what happens to the environment. ~ Bob Casey, Jr.

Secretary [Hillary ] Clinton is absolutely right, there are people, Koch brothers among others, who have a group called Concerned Veterans of America, funded by the Koch brothers. The Koch brothers, by the way, want to destroy Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, every governmental program passed since the 1930s. Yes, there are people out there who want to privatize it. ~ Bernie Sanders

I think every program needs to stand the sunshine of righteous scrutiny. Whether it's Social Security, whether it's Medicaid, whether it's Medicare. ~ Rick Perry

I could never allow [tax] cuts that devastate education for our children, that pollute our environment, that end the guarantee of health care for those who are served under Medicaid, that end our duty or violate our duty to our parents through Medicare. I just couldn't do that. As long as I'm president, I'll never let it happen. ~ William J. Clinton

It's not health care reform to dump more money into Medicaid. ~ Phil Bredesen

A loose definition of the Tea Party might be fifteen million pissed-off white people sent chasing after Mexicans on Medicaid by the small handful of banks and investment companies who advertise on Fox and CNBC. ~ Matt Taibbi

Healthcare costs are rising, and not just Medicare and Medicaid, but healthcare in general. ~ Gwen Moore

Medicaid is essentially bankrupt, Medicare is essentially bankrupt, why the heck would we give the federal government another entitlement program to manage? ~ Tim Pawlenty

I certainly would like to prevent, if I could legally, anybody having an abortion, a rich woman, a middle-class woman, or a poor woman. Unfortunately, the only vehicle available is the ... Medicaid bill. ~ Henry Hyde

Well, there are about 10 million children that aren't covered by health insurance. About 3 million qualify for Medicaid but don't get it, so we're going to reach out and bring more of those kids into the Medicaid program. ~ Franklin Raines

The central question is whether Medicare and Medicaid should remain entitlement programs guaranteeing a certain amount of care, as Democrats believe, or become defined contribution programs in which federal spending is capped, as Republicans suggest. ~ Christina Romer

In Florida, Medicaid is the fastest-growing part of our state budget - hands down. It is increasing at more than 3.5 times the rate of our general revenue. ~ Rick Scott

In a system where the cost of care is hidden by taxes levied on your income, property, and business activities, it is no wonder why so many Americans rely on Medicaid to pay their long term care. ~ Michael Burgess

What are we Democrats fighting for? We are not fighting for salvation and going to heaven. But we are fighting for Medicaid, Medicare, health care, education, jobs, helping old folks. ~ Charles B. Rangel

If you have cancer and you don't have health care, you are not free. You are probably going to suffer and die. If you are in a car accident and suffer multiple injuries and don't have health care, you are not free – you may be disabled for life, or die. Even if you break your leg, do not have access to health care, and cannot get it set, you are not free. You may never walk or run freely again. Ill health enslaves you. Disease enslaves you. Even cataracts that rob your vision and can easily be healed by modern medicine will enslave you to blindness without health care. When states turn down funds for Medicaid, that is a freedom issue – both for people who are being denied health care, and for everyone else to whom a curable disease can spread when health care is denied to a significant number of the people they interact with everyday. ~ George Lakoff

I support the Ryan budget plan. I think it's the right direction on the major points. I can't say I've read all of it, but on the major thrust of what he's doing, I support what he wants to do with Medicare, Medicaid. The only thing I would do, frankly, as I've said publicly many times, I think we should implement a lot of these things sooner than what he's suggesting. ~ Rick Santorum

Suddenly being her age seemed great. She didn't have to look perfect. Hooray And think of all the senior discounts she had to look forward to not to mention Social Security Medicare and Medicaid. So what if she was afraid of getting old Big whoopdedoowho wasn't She wasn't alone everybody her age was in the same boat. She was going to relax and just let herself get older. Who cared if she wore twoinch heels instead of 3andahalf inch heels her feet hurt and not only that she was going to have a piec eof cake once in a while and she wasn't going to go anywhere she didn't feel like going anymore either. Bring on the Depends And the bunion pads and the Metamucil. And if she liked pretty music and old movies so what She wasn't hurting anyone.

Hazel had always said "If you're still breathing you're ahead of the game." And she'd been right. Life itself was something to look forward to and so for whatever time she had left she was going to enjoy every minute wrinkles and all. What a concept ~ Fannie Flagg

We need a vibrant Medicaid program and strategies to expand affordable access to health care for all, especially for the specialty care services that community health centers do not provide. ~ Jan Schakowsky

Medicaid protects impoverished children, the frail elderly and people in crisis, .. Its limited resources will be further stretched serving hurricane victims. Proponents of Medicaid cuts either undervalue Medicaid assistance or underestimate American compassion. ~ Sherrod Brown

There is a lot of waste in government-run programs generally, and a lot of waste and fraud and misuse of money in Medicare and Medicaid that can be saved. ~ Chuck Grassley

Tens of billions of dollars could be saved in Medicare and Medicaid alone by eliminate fraud and improving patient care. Not only would this save money, but it will save lives. ~ Tim Murphy

I don't think anybody should be expanding Medicaid. I think it's a mistake to create new and more expensive entitlement programs when we can't afford the ones we've got today. We've got to stop this culture of government dependence. ~ Bobby Jindal

I will seek to reverse the shift of benefits from Medicaid to Medicare and hold harmless our seniors and disabled. ~ Jeff Bingaman

Florida is not going to implement Obamacare. We are not going to expand Medicaid, and we're not going to implement exchanges. ~ Rick Scott

Medicaid only allowed you three choices of
frames ... ugly, uglier, and fuckin rape prevention birth control! ~ Jeff Erno

This legislation provides Medicaid eligibility to evacuees and residents in (Federal Emergency Management Agency) designated disaster counties, .. It also helps pay private health insurance premiums for those at risk for losing their coverage. ~ Thad Cochran

Government did get into the health care business in a big way in 1965 with Medicare, and later with Medicaid, and government already distorts the marketplace. ~ Roy Blunt

What I was saying back then was that we have a lot of public health costs that taxpayers end up paying for through Medicaid, Medicare, through uncompensated care, because that was in the context of the push for health care reform and that we needed some way to try to defray those costs. ~ Hillary Clinton

My plan to put Social Security in an ironclad lockbox has gotten a lot of attention recently, and I'm glad about that. But I'm afraid that it's overshadowing some vitally important proposals. For instance, I'll put Medicaid in a walk-in closet. I'll put the Community Reinvestment Act in a secured gym locker. I'll put NASA funding in a hermetically sealed Ziploc bag. ~ Al Gore

Instead of talking about cuts in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, we must end the absurdity of corporations not paying a nickel in federal income taxes. ~ Bernie Sanders

We believe that if you put in place the mechanisms that allow for personal choice as far as Medicare is concerned, as well as the programs in Medicaid, that we can actually get to a better result and do what most Americans are learning how to do, which is to do more with less. ~ Eric Cantor

I agree with the idea of cutting [budget], but it should all be coming out of entitlements for the affluent and not out of domestic discretionary, which is welfare, education, all the stuff the government does, parks, FBI, and it shouldn't be coming out of Medicaid. ~ David Brooks

With the socialization of the health care system through institutions such as Medicaid and Medicare and the regulation of the insurance industry (by restricting an insurer's right of refusal: to exclude any individual risk as uninsurable, and discriminate freely, according to actuarial methods, between different group risks) a monstrous machinery of wealth and income redistribution at the expense of responsible individuals and low-risk groups in favor of irresponsible actors and high-risk groups has been put in motion. ~ Hans-Hermann Hoppe

Even now, hearing the debates about Medicaid, the suggestion that somehow we could save money by cutting Medicaid strikes a chord in me personally. It seems there are some other ways we can save money rather than making it harder for people like my aunt to get health care. ~ Josh Earnest

While the federal government is committed to paying 100% of the cost of new people in Medicaid, I cannot, in good conscience, deny the uninsured access to care. ~ Rick Scott

Forty states have sued tobacco companies over the costs of health care for residents on Medicaid and public assistance. ~ Bill Dedman

The federal government would give money to the states. States would be able to negotiate at local rates. It's not Medicaid. People didn't want it to be Medicaid in Washington, either. ~ Maria Cantwell

When you talk about raising that debt limit, the only way that I would ever support raising the debt limit if we also talk about budgetary controls on the federal government, capping its spending, how do we deal with the Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid problems, because they cannot continue to run on auto-pilot. ~ Allen West

You defended your Medicaid expansion by invoking God. ~ Megyn Kelly

No one was elected to Congress because he or she promised to cut Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid. ~ James P. Hoffa

Marriage equality - I think that it's a constitutionally guaranteed right. Let's end the drug wars. Let's balance the federal budget, and that means reforming the entitlements - Medicaid, Medicare. ~ Gary Johnson

Republicans drove us into debt with two wars and the Bush tax cuts. Now they want to pay for that debt with cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. This is not only immoral it is bad economics. Why do Republicans always have money for war but not for those in need? ~ Bernie Sanders

The Republican agenda is a radical vision in which Medicaid is slashed to the bone - in which we start to balance the budget on the backs of, literally, our most vulnerable citizens. ~ Al Franken

At a time of economic recession, the need for Medicaid and other safety net services is even greater. And we don't want to raise taxes on people who are having a tough time paying their bills. ~ James Douglas

he later made the tobacco companies pay: over $200 billion to Mississippi and forty-five other states as compensation for Medicaid costs arising from tobacco-related illnesses. The case (immortalized in the film The Insider) made Scruggs a rich man. His fee in the tobacco class action is said to have been $1.4 billion, or $22,500 for every hour his law firm worked. ~ Niall Ferguson

At today's prices for medicines, doctors and hospitals-if the latter are available at any price-only millionaires can afford to be hurt or sick and pay for it. Very few people want socialized medicine in the U.S. But pressure for it is going to appear with the same hurricane force as the demand for pollution control if the medicine men and hospital operators don't take soon some Draconian measures ... At the present rate of doctor fees and hospital costs under Medicare and Medicaid plans [taxpayers] are shovelling in billions with nothing but escalation in sight. ~ Malcolm Forbes