Television ads these days are filled with scare tactics that Republicans are going to cut Medicaid. No one is suggesting Medicaid should be taken away from those who need it. Don’t believe the lies that Democrats are pushing that Medicaid cuts will lead to children starving or babies dying. Those who are eligible for Medicaid will get what they need.
Here’s the truth about Medicaid and what’s happening in Congress. Karl Rove, writing in The Wall Street Journal, tells us the federal government admits it made $543 billion in inappropriate Medicaid payments from 2015 through 2024. Some experts think the real
number is actually $1.1 Trillion! The current House Republican proposal would cut the program’s spending by nearly $700 Billion over the next decade, according to preliminary Congressional Budget Office analysis.
That’s a lot of money but let me emphasize this is all about inappropriate Medicaid payments. That means payments beyond what eligible enrollees were supposed to receive. Let’s call it what it is: waste, fraud, and abuse. This has nothing to do with low-income, elderly or disabled Americans receiving the healthcare benefits they need.
Why is this a crisis?
Medicaid spending has skyrocketed in the last ten years. It has gone from about $450 Billion in 2013 to nearly $900 Billion in 2023. That’s way out of proportion to the rise in inflation and Medicaid spending now exceeds Defense Department spending. If we want to continue to have a strong military and be able to meet the real healthcare needs of low income and disabled Americans, we must reign in this out-of-control Medicaid spending.
How can Republicans get the truth to the American people?
Rove says, “Start by declaring a strong commitment to save the program. Because of Democratic policies, Medicaid is spending hundreds of billions on people it shouldn’t—those who are able-bodied and working-age. Republicans want this assistance to go to the people it was meant for—the elderly poor, disabled, and children in low-income families. Without reform, the program on which those Americans depend is at risk of rapidly becoming unsustainable.”
He goes on to say the GOP should say that able-bodied adults on Medicaid should be required to work or look for work. “No freeloaders” on a program meant for the truly vulnerable is a powerful argument. A Feb. 25 Kaiser Family Foundation poll found 62% of Americans support “requiring nearly all adults to work or be looking for work” to qualify for Medicaid, while 38% were opposed. If told that such a requirement “could ensure that Medicaid is reserved for groups like the elderly, people with disabilities, and low-income children,” it was 77% support, 22% oppose.
Rove also says Republicans should drive home that—unlike radical Democrats—Republicans oppose illegal immigrants getting Medicaid. House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie (R., Ky.) estimates that 1.4 million illegal aliens receive Medicaid. That isn’t only wrong; it encourages more aliens to try to cross our border illegally.
Make clear that Republicans want to end fraud while Democrats are content to perpetuate it. Specifically, Democrats have made it harder for states to check their rolls frequently for ineligible Medicaid recipients. For the sake of fairness and accountability, the GOP will make it easier to find and remove those who don’t qualify.
The Medicaid cuts Republicans are proposing will help stop the government from wasting Medicaid dollars that low income, elderly and disabled Americans need. Those who oppose these cuts are either playing politics with the issue or benefiting from ineligible payments; they’re not looking out for the country or the people who really need Medicaid.
