A group called ‘Hookers for Healthcare’ has become an unlikely voice against the Senate Republican healthcare bill.
Alice Little, a sex worker at Dennis Hof’s Sagebrush Ranch near Reno, wrote in a blog post this week: ‘Hundreds of thousands of Nevadans will lose coverage if the Trumpcare bill passes, and even more will be significantly affected as a result of the legislation.
‘This includes Nevada’s most unique demographic — the thousands of licensed working girls who ply their trade in the only state in the USA where prostitution is legal.’
The bill, which has been delayed to be voted on until after the July 4 recess, proposes huge cuts to Medicaid — the single largest source of public funding for family planning services.
Nearly 40 million women rely on Medicaid, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. In fact, women account for 53 percent of Medicaid’s beneficiaries.
But the bill would phase out the extra money Obama’s law provides to states that have expanded coverage under the federal-state Medicaid program for low-income people. The additional funds would continue through 2020, and be gradually reduced until they are entirely eliminated in 2024.
In addition, page 38 of the discussion draft stipulates that future enrollees of Medicaid cannot be pregnant. It reads: ‘In this title, the term ‘expansion enrollee’ means an individual — (A) who is under 65 years of age; (B) who is not pregnant…’
Alice says many of the young mothers entering the sex industry rely on Medicaid for financial support.
She also raises fears of losing cliental because insurers will have the power to charge older people more, leaving them with less disposable income to pay for sex.
Alice said: ‘People over the age of 65 make up a very large percentage of Nevada brothel clients. If these clients are forced to pay unfairly augmented health care costs, they will not have money on hand to spend on the things that make life worth living in the first place — like sex with a beautiful and talented working girl.
‘That will in turn have a devastating effect on our entire industry, and negative impact on small businesses is the antithesis of what President Trump campaigned on.’
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