October 12, 2016 11:03 AM UTC

Laura Woods Helps People Get Their Medicaid--Wait, What?!

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• by: Colorado Pols

A new mail piece arriving in Senate District 19 mailboxes is provoking spit-takes from recipients in the know. The positive-message mailer originates from Republican state Sen. Laura Waters Woods’ own campaign, with one particular quote attributed a Woods supporter constituent standing out:

Woods’ mail piece celebrates an alleged moment in which she helped an elderly couple qualify for Medicaid “after being told by the government they didn’t qualify.” It’s not unusual for constituents to contact lawmakers for help in matters of this kind, after all, and constituent service is a great way to build goodwill in the district.

The problem in this case is that Sen. Woods openly supports throwing thousands of people off Medicaid–quite possibly including Diana Lewis’ parents. As our friend Jason Salzman reported earlier this year:

During a radio interview in January, Woods said Medicaid used to be “for the truly needy,” but it’s not anymore. So she wants families to be poorer to qualify for Medicaid. Currently, a family of four qualifies if it earns less than around $34,000 per year–or 138 percent of the federal poverty level…

Woods told Bonniwell that “this rolling back [the] 137 percent is exactly the kind of compromise and agreement that we would push to the government, and say, ‘You know what? You want compromise, let’s talk.’”

But Woods said a healthcare cut must be done with “a lot of forethought” because “you’re sort of taking away their birthday. You’re taking away Santa Claus.”

Obviously we don’t know what Diana Lewis’ parents’ income was, or what caused them to be initially disqualified for Medicaid. But there are certainly many retirees out there getting by on less than $34,000 a year and more than the federal poverty line–and those are the people Laura Woods wants disqualified from Medicaid. The only reason it hasn’t happened is Woods does not have, you know, dictatorial power.

With all this in mind, Woods bragging about helping people “get on Medicaid” is so deceptive it’s ridiculous. And again, this isn’t some independent messaging group getting it laughably wrong. It’s Woods’ campaign, and a willful deception.