Tom Cotton: Able-Bodied Poor People Don’t Deserve Medicaid, They Should Buy “Market-Based Insurance”

Raw Story reports:

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) on Sunday called on “able-bodied” poor people to be removed from Medicaid. CNN host Jake Tapper noted during an interview on State of the Union that Republican governors had criticized House Speaker Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) plan to repeal Obamacare because it would reduce funds for Medicaid, leaving millions without medical coverage.

Cotton declared that many people on Medicaid should be purchasing their own insurance instead. “Medicaid is a welfare program,” he said. “It’s primarily designed for the indigent, elderly, the disabled, the blind and children.” “It’s not designed for able-bodied adults,” Cotton continued. “We want to get those people off of Medicaid, into a job and into market-based insurance.”