Oregon District 2’s representative, Cliff Bentz, R, is tasked with finding $880 billion of cuts to the Energy and Commerce budget over the next 10 years including cuts to Medicaid. Bentz has appeared on TV praising Medicaid as a “good program” that “needs to be protected,” and an “indispensable … indispensable lifeline.” If his admiration is genuine, he’s got a funny way of showing it.

Bentz and other committee members claim their proposed law protects Medicaid and “refocuses Medicaid on mothers, children, people with disabilities, and the elderly.” On the other hand, shrinking the federal government loudly and with pride has been the hallmark of this administration: not even Bentz would deny that. The spending cutting has been almost a sport-like, “Hunger Games” spectacle sometimes crossing over into troubling sadism and lawlessness.

It has been notably void of empathy. Constituents would have to betray their own eyes and ears to believe this bill is about protecting Medicaid. This bill is about cutting spending.

It is difficult to find items in the legislation that show love for Medicaid, while it is easy to find deep cuts. Bentz loves to talk about “scale” in the media when convenient; other times he leaves it out. This bill reduces the Medicaid budget by nearly 15%. Providers, members, and communities can expect to feel it. Forty-two percent of Oregon’s District 2 are on Oregon’s Medicaid program: the Oregon Health Plan.

This bill reduces cost by reducing coverage. It excludes certain providers, certain medical treatments, increases frequency of eligibility redeterminations, reduces retroactive coverage for otherwise eligible members, disregards years of data and public comment on streamlining enrollment, eligibility determination, and reducing fraud. The bill mandates cost sharing, or copays, for some OHP members.

Further, the bill ends income-based special enrollment periods on the insurance marketplace and makes you ineligible for insurance if you have a past due premium. What Bentz’s office won’t tell you is that there is another way.Cliff Bentz says those sounding the alarm over these Medicaid cuts are “running around with their hair on fire.” I’m not running around. My hair is not on fire, but Cliff’s pants might be.

In 2017 significant tax reform reduced federal tax revenue and increased the deficit. Figures are given for individuals, doubled for married filers. The 2017 law reduced the federal top income rate from 39.6% to 37% for earners of more than $626,350. Additionally, the law doubled the estate tax exemption from $5.49 million to $11.18 million.

Simply letting these reforms expire would generate an estimated total of $502 billion dollars over 10 years. That’s 57% of the costs that Bentz is cutting from Medicaid.

It is difficult to determine how many people in district two would see tax increases with the above-mentioned changes, but it is surely a tiny portion of people in District two considering less than 12% of Oregonians make more than $200k a year. Most of those people are likely not in District 2, and even then they would have to earn a lot more to be affected. Around 1% of Americans pay an estate tax. Readers of this article can reference for themselves their income and any pending estates.

If you make less than $626,350 a year and are not expecting an estate worth more than $5.49 million dollars, you would not be affected. It is a simple solution that would affect almost none of Bentz’ constituents, but he chose a solution that hurts nearly 42% of his constituents. It begs the question, “Who does Cliff Bentz serve?”

One more thing. If this were truly about reducing the deficit, wouldn’t he make the cuts and generate the revenue. Something doesn’t add up.

Craig Blackard lives in Ashland.