Republicans defend Medicaid reform as Democrats warn of harmful cuts

Democrats have railed against potential Medicaid cuts since President Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election. Now that his “big, beautiful bill” has passed through Congress, they are making Medicaid a top talking point ahead of competitive midterm elections expected in 2026. 

Republicans, meanwhile, are doubling down on Medicaid reform included in Trump’s megabill, which also includes sweeping legislation on taxes, immigration and energy. 

“My policy is if you’re an able-bodied worker, get a damn job,” Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., told Fox News Digital. “If you want government benefits, go to work and get a job.”

A provision in the megabill requires able-bodied, childless adults between the ages of 18 and 64 to work at least 80 hours a month to be eligible to receive Medicaid benefits. Individuals can also meet the requirement by ​​participating in community service, going to school or engaging in a work program.

REPUBLICANS PRAISE ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’S’ WORK REQUIREMENT FOR MEDICAID: ‘WE’VE GOT TO GET BACK TO WORK’

Fox News Digital asked lawmakers on Capitol Hill if taxpayers should have to pay for Medicaid bills for able-bodied workers who are under 65 and unemployed. 

‘RIGHT DOWN THE LINE’: MEDICAID REFORM IN ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ DIVIDES LAWMAKERS BY PARTY

Sen. Angus King, an independent from Maine, said in both Arkansas and Georgia, where work requirements have already been imposed, it ended up costing taxpayers more money to administer the work requirements. 

“We’re talking about a very small population, and in the two cases where they tried it, it ended up, number one, disqualifying people who met all the requirements but gave up on the paperwork. These aren’t people that are used to filling out a lot of paperwork every month. And it also cost the state a lot to administer,” King said. 

The New England Journal of Medicine found that Arkansas’ Medicaid work requirement from 2018 to 2019 “found no evidence of increased employment … and a significant loss of Medicaid coverage among low-income adults.”

Similarly, the Georgia Budget & Policy Institute (GBPI) reported that 80% of the $58 million spent in the first year of Georgia’s Pathways to Coverage program went toward administrative costs. 

But Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., emphasized that Republicans “want these programs to be around for the people who need them.” She said Medicaid reform is about “strengthening and preserving these programs at the rate that they’re growing.”

“These programs were intended to be safety nets, not hammocks that people stay in, and the success of these programs should be measured by how many people we get off of them,” Britt said. 

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., agreed, telling Fox News Digital, “What you don’t want is for somebody to become dependent. I’d tell people: safety nets should bounce you to your feet. They shouldn’t be like flypaper in which you stick and can never get off.”

“We’re not saying, ‘Hey, we’re not throwing you out.’ All right, but you gotta go get a job. You either get a job, or actually you can even volunteer, all right? And that will satisfy the requirements for work,” Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., explained. 

But Democrats who spoke to Fox News Digital continued to push back against the work requirements included in the “big, beautiful bill.” 

“I think people [who] are able to work, trust me, they’d rather work than to get the piddling dollars that they get from Medicaid. It’s insulting to suggest that a person would rather sit at home rather than work and get this meager amount of money. All of this has just been totally expanded to fit a narrative that allows them to cut into those people who really deserve Medicaid,” Rep. Troy Carter, D-La., said. 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

And Rep. Lateefah Simon, D-Calif., said, “We need to be able to have an infrastructure in this country that supports the elderly and the sick and the widows and the child. This bill, it violates all those basic principles.”

Fox News’ Peter Pinedo contributed to this report.