A Medicaid Election Doesn't Favor The Right

Josh Barro agrees with David's Medicaid observation, and notes how brutal a weapon Medicaid can be for Democrats in this election.

Clinton’s remarks on Medicaid, just a single paragraph, are likely to change the health policy debate over the next two months. It’s weird: Romney has a plan that would devastate Medicaid, and almost nobody talks about it. As Clinton said:

They also want to block grant Medicaid and cut it by a third over the coming decade. Of course, that will hurt poor kids, but that's not all. Almost two-thirds of Medicaid is spent on nursing home care for seniors and on people with disabilities, including kids from middle class families, with special needs like Downs syndrome or Autism. I don't know how those families are going to deal with it. We can't let it happen.

The conventional wisdom is that Medicaid is a losing issue for the Democrats. But Clinton’s case for Medicaid is succinct, sympathetic and persuasive, and I expect to start hearing it more often.