Brian Connell
@BrianC_LLS
Advocating for cancer patients. Husband, dad, son, brother, chronic disease patient, neighbor, DC resident, Jesus follower. Tweets are my own.
Not enough people are talking about how HR 1, the Big Beautiful Bill, will grow government bureaucracy Americans are already reeling under insurance red tape & HR 1 is about to make it much worse. Here are just a few examples of what red tape looks like in the real world. A 🧵
Crapo to reporters today on ACA subsidies, not a hard no: “Everything in our jurisdiction is open for discussion….I can’t tell you how it’s shaping up yet, it hasn’t shaped up yet.”
Bessent is pretending to not understand inflation and population growth because he has a low opinion of his listeners, but inflation-adjusted spending per person in Medicaid is now set to fall - because they enacted the largest cuts in history.
.@SecScottBessent: "Only in D.C. is a 20% hike over 10 years a 'cut' ... Medicaid funding will go up 20% over the next 10 years. The people who Medicaid was designed for: pregnant women, the disabled, and families with children under 14, will be refocused."
Everyone who understands the intersection of health care and bureaucracy has been pulling their hair out to explain to you that “work requirements” largely punish ***working people***
The distinction matters! Best evidence we have suggests work requirements largely screen people out of coverage because they don't know about them — you can't comply with reporting requirements you don't know about — or don't adequately report their qualifying activity/exemption
“Worsening a patient's credit can prevent them from getting a job, renting an apartment, or even paying their outstanding medical bills,” writes @llsusa’s chief medical officer. trib.al/3aFy58E
NEW: @PamBondi orders the federal government to stop providing language support for people with limited English proficiency, reversing generations of bipartisan efforts after the Civil Rights era to make the federal government accessible to those who don't speak English well.
A few hours ago, a magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck off the Alaska Peninsula, just south of Sand Point. Local residents and summer visitors alike were able to evacuate thanks to federal tsunami advisories relayed through local public broadcasting stations. That’s the real world.…
In passing HR 1, Congress is taking Medicaid dollars out of rural communities in the next several decades to finance tax cuts (like SALT) that benefit the wealthiest, blue state communities.
The temporary $50 billion rural health fund in the Republican tax and spending bill gets distributed from 2026 to 2030. But, 63% of the Medicaid cuts hit after 2030.
Only Beltway experts think through the prism of which politician was “right.” There are millions of Americans whose access to healthcare rests on whether Congress extends the current tax credits.
"Out-of-pocket" is the key here. The question is what is the optimal share of the premium paid by taxpayers versus the enrollee. I think Obama got this right. And Biden got this wrong. Far too much of the premium under Biden was paid by taxpayers, which enabled massive fraud.
This proposal wins the award for the worst idea of the year, and that's quite the bar to clear.
With Dr. Joseph Puthumana, our article @thehill: How Making Health Insurance ‘Insurance’ Again Will Improve Health Care Past health policy reforms, largely focused on health insurance, have neither improved health care nor made Americans healthier. To make America healthy again,…
Josh Hawley seeks to reverse the Medicaid cuts he voted for trib.al/Ti46ek3
She was a senior reviewer in the device division who was RIF'd in the first round and did not return - a veteran and an MD/PhD. Story from March 2. GIFT: nytimes.com/2025/03/02/us/…
"What Americans don’t realize is that the funding structure and existence of pediatric health care is wholly dependent on Medicaid." -Anireddy Reddy, pediatric physician Read her full article ⬇️ statnews.com/2025/07/02/med…
Rep. Calvert apparently doesn't know what was in the bill he voted on. He says here the only change to Medicaid was a work reporting requirement for non-parent adults. Not true. The paperwork is $300B of over $900B in Medicaid cuts, undoing core funding for the program. (1/)
I recently spoke with KESQ about the One Big Beautiful Bill and why I believe it will put more money in the pockets of Riverside County families.
This is an unserious criticism from @tylercowen (left). It's easy to find meaningful healthcare spending cuts that do not compromise care (right). In addition to @employamerica, tons of work on this @BudgetHawks @MarcGoldwein @LorenAdler and @MattAFiedler & many others.
Big Beautiful Bill critiques marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolu…
That letter from 16 vulnerable House Republicans — about how they won't vote for the Senate's Medicaid cuts — is a pretty crazy read today. Everyone on this letter voted for the bill. notus.org/congress/the-s…