Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) spoke on the Senate floor Tuesday night about the need to expand Medicaid, without realizing that the sign next to her misspelled the word “Medicaid.”
A sign that read “War on MEDICAD” was on display for nearly two minutes while she criticized Republicans for stunting the growth of the government-run healthcare program.
Cantwell did not even flinch when the sign first appeared on the stand.
“[The GOP health plan] is a war on Medicaid,” she said. “In my opinion, there are cost-effective ways for us to continue access to health care.”
“I would hope that my colleagues would stop the focus on decapitation of cutting medicare because it would throw so many people off the system,” she continued. “These are the problems I still see with this proposal to basically think that junk insurance will be the way for us to get insurance.”
Cantwell has advocated for Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion to remain in place and opposed the nomination of Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price over his efforts not to expand the government program.
She also argued in June that cutting Medicaid would harm veterans who do not have access to healthcare services through the Department of Veterans Affairs.