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An act in three parts, featuring Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), played out on Twitter over the last few days.

VP Pence went first, posting a video of himself on Friday speaking about the (now dead) Senate health-care bill.

Let me be clear: The Senate health-care bill strengthens and secures Medicaid for the neediest in our society. #BetterCare pic.twitter.com/rThIZtB9zi

The next day, Sen. Murphy quote-tweeted Pence's video and said that there was a "real evil in the epidemic rate of lying" that is currently happening in Washington.

I'm going to say it - there is real evil in the epidemic rate of lying that is going on right now. This is not normal. https://t.co/ifkV1GWAUH

To which Pence replied on Monday that the current Obamacare law contained quite a bit of lies and half-truths as well--namely, the 2013 PolitiFact Lie of the Year of "if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor." For good measure, Pence also included the Pinocchio emoji of a face with a growing nose.

You mean like, "If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor."? ?? https://t.co/GUpFKhe7pz

Daaaaaaaaang.

While not quite admitting defeat, Murphy then thanked Pence for the reply, and claimed that pointing out that others lied too "isn't a defense." (Although one could say it's at least progress now that Democrats are admitting that people lied during the leadup to the passage of Obamacare.)

Thanks for the reply, but claiming someone else lied too isn't a defense. The bill does not "secure Medicaid". I'm confident you know this. https://t.co/0OqkijAaK7

Who knew VP Pence could be that intense on Twitter?

Even The New York Times Noticed the Dems' Obstructionism

Read more from the original source:
Mike Pence Demolishes Sen. Chris Murphy on Twitter - Townhall

In a little more than 15 years, the United States went from launching its first satellites (Explorer 1 and Vanguard 1 in 1958) to putting men in space, then on the moon, then to landing a spacecraft safely on Mars (Viking in 1976).

Think about that for a minute: People who had gone west in covered wagons on the Oregon Trail as children were still alive when the United States launched those satellites.

People born in 1869, when the last member of Lewis and Clark expedition was still alive, were watching Americans walk on the moon.

People born in the horse-and-buggy era lived to see America land an unmanned spacecraft on Mars.

Those were heady days for our country and anxious ones, too.

Perhaps America is ready to resume its place as the world leader in space exploration. Lets hope so.

Earlier this month, Vice President Mike Pence visited NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida and in doing so highlighted the next step the Orion spacecraft and its launch counterpart, the SLS, or Space Launch System, which will be the worlds most powerful rocket. This combination has the potential to take astronauts back to the moon, then to Mars and perhaps to asteroids.

Let us do what our nation has always done since its very founding and beyond: Weve pushed the boundaries on frontiers, not just of territory, but of knowledge. Weve blazed new trails, and weve astonished the world as weve boldly grasped our future without fear, Pence said. We will put American boots on the face of Mars.

It had echoes of the promises and potential of the dawning of the Space Age.

The first flight of the integrated Orion/Space Launch System is scheduled for 2019, which would be a fitting way to recognize the 50th anniversary of Neil Armstrong walking on the moon.

Explorer 1 burned up on re-entry a few years after launch, but Vanguard is still up there the oldest man-made object in space. Neil Armstrongs footprints are still there, and Viking is still on the Martian surface, waiting for another generation of explorers to rediscover it, perhaps even to bring it home and put it in the Smithsonians National Air and Space Museum, alongside Apollo 11, Friendship 7, Bell X-1, the Spirit of St. Louis, the Wright Flyer, and other milestones of air and space.

The late astronaut Eugene Cernan, who as part of the crew of Apollo 17 became the last man to walk on the moon, consistently challenged us to push forward in space.

After Apollo 17, America stopped looking toward the next horizon, he once said. The United States had become a spacefaring nation, but threw it away.

Its time we become a spacefaring people once again.

View original post here:
Our View: Mike Pence challenges us to resume role as space-faring nation - Joplin Globe

Dozens of protesters gathered in Burnside Park in Providence before taking to the streets to speak out against Vice President Mike Pence's visit to the National Governors Association summer meeting.

Providing more Americans health insurance through Medicaid might sound good in the abstract, but Vice President Mike Pence told a story recently about how it can have unintended and dire consequences.

Speaking at the National Governors Association meeting in Rhode Island, Pence said in the state of Ohio -- which expanded Medicaid as part of the Affordable Care Act -- disabled Ohioans are unable to access care because able-bodied adults have been added to the Medicaid rolls.

"Obamacare has put far too many able-bodied adults on the Medicaid rolls, leaving many disabled and vulnerable Americans at the back of the line," Pence said July 14. "Gov. (John) Kasich isn't with us, but I suspect that he's very troubled to know that in Ohio alone, nearly 60,000 disabled citizens are stuck on waiting lists, leaving them without the care they need for months or even years."

Is it true that Ohios expanded Medicaid system has sucked up state dollars that could have shortened the waiting list for the disabled in Ohio?

Pence spokesman Marc Lotter said the vice president was saying that "we need to provide states the flexibility to create systems that best meet the needs of their people." Lotter pointed to a Wall Street Journal op-ed that said the more generous federal reimbursement for Medicaid expansion "diverts resources from the programs traditional targets."

"A temporary enrollment freeze might lead Ohio to prioritize resources for the truly needy," the piece said.

What we found is that there are about 60,000 people on county waiting lists across Ohio. But Pence is wrong to create a connection between the programs to help them and Medicaid expansion.

Home and community-based service waivers

The waiting list Pence mentioned is part of a 30-year-old effort by Washington to give states more options to keep the long-term disabled out of institutions. Its called home and community-based services, or HCBS. The money can pay for a variety of services, such as adult day care and assistance at home with eating and dressing.

States set the number of people who can apply for waivers and Washington picks up between 50 and 70 percent of the cost. Thats less favorable than the 90 percent share that the federal government pays for Americans who receive Medicaid as part of the Affordable Care Act expansion.

Health analyst MaryBeth Musumeci at the Kaiser Family Foundation, a respected source of health care data, told us theres no escaping these budget realities.

"The expansion adults are a less costly population in that they are generally healthier and therefore use less services than someone on an HCBS waiver who by definition has chronic and long-term care needs," Musumeci said.

But when Musumeci crunched the data, she found no simple trade-off between expansion and waiting lists.

In fact, states that didnt expand Medicaid were more likely to see their waiting lists grow compared to those that did expand.

Point being, Musumeci said, is that there is no relationship between the waiting list and Medicaid expansion.

Pence also spoke too broadly when he said people were left without the care they need, Musumeci said.

Musumeci and her colleagues found that just because someone is on a waiting list, that doesnt mean they arent getting any Medicaid services. According to federal data, 93 percent of people on waiting lists with intellectual and developmental disabilities receive Medicaid services that dont depend on the waiver process.

Further complications

As it turns out, the waiting lists in and of themselves dont always show how many people are going without care.

When the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities commissioned a survey of people on the waiting list, it found that over 40 percent said they had "no current area of need." (The study was last updated in 2015.)

Part of the problem Musumeci said is that the lists can include people from many years back. Their situations may have changed or some of them would never have qualified for waivers in the first place.

The disability community differs with Pence

Pences claim about Ohio also contradicts the work of advocates for the disabled.

In an initial assessment, the National Council on Disability reported in 2016 that "both interview results and available literature suggest that Medicaid expansion has helped people with disabilities."

The National Health Law Program, a group that advocates for the legal rights of the poor, agreed. It wrote that "expanded eligibility for Medicaid means that some of people on waiting lists who could not qualify for Medicaid under the traditional categories now access Medicaid services, which includes some community-based services."

The group also said that "states expanding Medicaid have saved millions in spending on people with disabilities, savings that could be used to expand HCBS programs."

Our ruling

Pence said that Medicaid expansion in Ohio left 60,000 people waiting for the services they need.

We found no link between the waiting list and Medicaid expansion. In fact, studies found that Medicaid expansion increased services for the disabled. They also found that in Ohio, over 40 percent of people on those lists said they had no immediate need for services. In short, the size of the list is not a sound measure of need.

One analysis argued that Medicaid expansion frees up state dollars that could go toward reducing the ranks of people on the waiting list. And overall, there is no clear connection between expanding Medicaid and rising waiting list numbers. In fact, non-expansion states were more likely to see their waiting lists grow.

We rate this claim False.

Share the Facts

2017-07-17 12:47:19 UTC

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In Ohio, due to Medicaid expansion, "nearly 60,000 disabled citizens are stuck on waiting lists ... leaving them without the care they need for months or even years."

Mike Pence

Vice President of the United States

In a speech to the National Governors Association in Providence, RI

Friday, July 14, 2017

2017-07-14

View original post here:
Mike Pence falsely blames Medicaid expansion for disability waiting list in Ohio - PolitiFact

Thousands of Christians descended on the nation's capital Monday for Christians United for Israel's 12th annual summit.

Mike Pence addressed the crowd, assuring that not only he, but President Donald Trump are proud supporters of the Jewish state.

"And under President Donald Trump, if the world knows nothing else, the world will know this: America stands with Israel. Now and always," he said.

The Vice President also revealed where his love for Israel comes from: not from Capitol Hill, but from the very Word of God.

"To look at Israel is to see that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob keeps his promises," he said. "Like all of you, my passion for Israel springs from my Christian faith. The songs of the land and the people of Israel were the anthems of my youth. As for me and my house, we pray for the peace of Jerusalem and all who call her home. Its really the greatest privilege of my life to serve as Vice President to a President who cares so deeply for our most cherished ally."

It was also very clear the alliance between Israel and America's leaders was not just founded on faith, but common values like freedom and democracy.

"President Trump has made it clear: America stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Israel, as together we confront those enemies who threaten our people, our freedom, and our very way of life," he said.

Pence also made sure to address one issue that so many Christians supported when President Trump ran his campaign -- the move of the United States' embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

"I promise you that the day will come when President Donald Trump moves the American Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. It is not a question of if, it is only when," he said to a standing ovation.

CUFI members are on Capitol Hill Tuesday to urge their representatives and senators to follow Vice President Mike Pence and President Trump's lead and support Israel.

Originally posted here:
Mike Pence to CUFI: I Support Israel Because I Am a Christian - CBN News

But two of his claims -- one broad defense of how the GOP bill would handle Medicaid, and one much more specific comment about waiting lists in Ohio -- have Pence facing criticism from his own party.

In both cases, Pence omitted critical context.

Those omissions go to the heart of the concerns about the bill among many within the GOP. In at least two cases, Republicans cited Pence specifically in voicing their displeasure with the bill in recent days.

Pence's broad defense of the bill included this line: "President Trump and I believe the Senate health care bill strengthens and secures Medicaid for the neediest in our society, and this bill puts this vital American program on a path to long-term sustainability."

Behind closed doors, Pence and top Trump health officials who met with governors stuck to the technically true claim that Medicaid spending would continue to increase under the GOP bill.

And starting in 2025, it would attach growth in Medicaid spending to the Consumer Price Index instead of tying it to medical inflation. Standard inflation has grown at a much slower rate than medical inflation.

The CBO projected this would force states to shrink their Medicaid programs -- leading to 15 million fewer Medicaid enrollees within the next decade. Many Republicans are preemptively discrediting the CBO's analysis, though, ahead of a new score expected this week.

The plan maintains many of Obamacare's subsidies to help people pay for individual insurance and provides money to stabilize the Obamacare market over the next few years. And, Pence and other top Republicans have argued, the Trump administration would grant states much more flexibility to make cost-saving changes to the traditional Medicaid program. Pence cited a plan he expanded in Indiana as one example.

"States across the country will have an unprecedented level of flexibility to reform Medicaid and bring better coverage, better care, and better outcomes to the most vulnerable in your states," Pence said.

However, Democratic governors mocked the notion that increased flexibility could make up for major cuts in federal spending.

Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins also took issue with Pence's claims on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday.

"I would respectfully disagree with the vice president's analysis," Collins said. "This bill would impose fundamental, sweeping changes in the Medicaid program, and those include very deep cuts. That would affect some of the most vulnerable people in our society, including disabled children, poor seniors. It would affect our rural hospitals and our nursing homes. And they would have a very difficult time even staying in existence.

Pence cited by name another Republican who has criticized the GOP bill -- Ohio Gov. John Kasich -- while claiming his state, which is among the 31 states and the District of Columbia to expand Medicaid under Obamacare, now faces steep waiting lists for coverage.

Here's what Pence said: "Obamacare has put far too many able-bodied adults on the Medicaid rolls, leaving many disabled and vulnerable Americans at the back of the line. It's true, and it's heartbreaking. I know Gov. Kasich isn't with us, but I suspect that he's very troubled to know that in Ohio alone, nearly 60,000 disabled citizens are stuck on waiting lists, leaving them without the care they need for months or even years."

Experts from the Kaiser Family Foundation say that waiting lists for these services are longer in states that have not expanded Medicaid under Obamacare than they are in states that have expanded.

Kasich didn't attend the meeting. But back in Ohio, his aides lashed out, noting that the waiting lists are related to Medicaid's home and community-based services and have nothing to do with Ohio's decision to expand Medicaid under Obamacare.

Pence's office has not responded to CNN's request for comment on the Kasich camp's criticism.

See more here:
Mike Pence's two misleading Medicaid claims - CNN