PA Mom of Disabled Son Who Relies On Medicaid Offended By Response From Rep. Perry [PennLive]

What does Scott Perry have to say to his constituents when they reach out to his office expressing concern about his vote to cut Medicaid? Kick rocks.

A mother in Perry’s district who is concerned that the congressman’s deciding vote to gut Medicaid will rip health care away from her disabled son was “taken aback by the written response that she got from him,” saying that the letter she received from Perry felt “like a slap in the face” and that it was “insulting and heartless.”

Read more about Perry’s “arrogant” response below:

• Consider Paula Bussard a single face in one of the most contentious political fights in Congress.
• As the mother of a medically complex and physically disabled son, the 70-year-old Carlisle resident is eyeing the congressional budget reconciliation bill with a sense of doom.
• Perry, a York County Republican and member of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus, voted for it.
• Bussard, a constituent of Perry’s was most taken aback by the written response that she got from him.
• Perry blamed the liberal media for spreading “desperate, fearmongering propaganda”…and “that he and other Republicans intend to “destroy or dismantle” Medicare or Medicaid.
• “To be clear, I do not now, nor have I ever supported the dissolution of either program,” Perry said in his letter to Bussard.
• “To me the letter was like a slap in the face,” Bussard said. “I thought, no, you have to speak, because other parents, they’re just trying to keep their head above water and take care of their kid, you know.”
• Bussard found the letter insulting and heartless.
• “I never accused him of trying to eliminate Medicaid and I had not communicated anything on Medicare,” Bussard said. “My point to him in several emails and phone calls is that seeking cuts of hundreds of billions of dollars from Medicaid would cause people to lose their health insurance under Medicaid, to have services or benefits cut, or to see provider payments cut, all of which could hurt our state’s most vulnerable citizens.”
• Requests for comment submitted by PennLive to Perry’s office were not returned.
• In her emails and phone calls to Perry, Bussard said she was “always polite,” provided data and shared Alex’s story, inviting the congressman and staff to visit her and meet her son.
• “I would get the typical kind of boilerplate response and having worked as an advocate for hospitals, I’m very used to that,” Bussard said. “But when I got this letter from him that said, ‘you’re believing the fake and dishonest media that they’re having to save Medicaid,’ it really just did offend me.”
• The bill passed by a one-vote margin (215-214) with all Democrats and two Republicans voting against the bill.
• “They are making decisions that hurt vulnerable people,” she said. “Half the people on Medicaid are children; 20% are persons like my son. Another 10% are senior citizens, poor senior citizens. This concept that Medicaid is wasting all this money on able-bodied men that are sitting watching video games, I mean, he said that and it’s so offensive.”
• Retired from a 30-year career in health care policy and advocacy, Bussard said she is confident the cuts to Medicaid laid out in the Trump bill will result in serious harm to hundreds of thousands of people like her son.
• “People will be hurt if they cut payments to providers in Pennsylvania,” Bussard said. “I know the Medicaid program and I know the nature of the individuals who are enrolled in Medicaid.”
• The latest analysis from the Congressional Budget Office estimates that a staggering 16 million people would lose health insurance under the bill, including 11 million on Medicaid and five million who would lose access to Affordable Care Act policies.
• Bussard said she doesn’t want an apology from Perry.
• “I would like him to be honest,” she said. “I mean, the whole Republican Party in Washington, they’re voting to extend tax cuts and, I get it, working class families need tax cuts, but do they have to extend those tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires? And then to imply to the public to save Medicaid we must cut it? It’s just dishonest. Just say what you’re doing, that you care more about tax cuts for the wealthy than you do about fundamental services for our most vulnerable.”
• Perry also indicated to Bussard that he is fully on board with the president’s tariff policies.
• In her communication with him, Perry asked Bussard if she knew “that before 1913 there was no income tax and tariffs?”
• “I thought, yeah, and kids worked in factories,” Bussard said. “I was like ‘Representative is that what we’re like?’ It’s insulting the intelligence of the recipient and it’s being a bit arrogant.”

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