Via the Wall Street Journal: The Moral Case for Reforming Medicaid
The Medicaid program is a critical lifeline for the most vulnerable Americans. House Republicans are committed to strengthening and protecting Medicaid so it can continueserving the most vulnerable Americans it was intended to serve—namely, low-income pregnant women, children, those living with disabilities, and seniors, for generations to come.
Unchecked spending on means-tested welfare programs is a main driver of today’s massive debt. In 2023 alone, spending totaled $1.6 trillion, accounting for 26 percent of federal expenditures. To get our fiscal house in order, we must reform the nation’s welfare system, while protecting federal assistance programs for those truly in need. These reforms must restore the dignity of work for able-bodied adults.
WORD ON THE STREET
Excerpts from the Wall Street JournalEditorial Board:
“Republicans in Congress passed their budget outline last week, and now they have to fill in the blanks with real policies. It’s a once-in-a-generation chance to reform the government, but it will be squandered if the GOP shrinks from difficult policy fights.”
“Exhibit A is Medicaid, the fast-growing entitlement that now spends more than $850 billion a year while delivering subpar healthcare for the poor. The left and the press are trying to intimidate the GOP from addressing the program’s failures... But Republicans can win the Medicaid argument if they understand how the program has gone wrong and make their case in the moral terms it deserves.”
“New research and polling on Medicaid work requirements help to clarify the stakes. More than six in 10 able-bodied adults on Medicaid report no earned income, according to a report from the Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA), a think tank. Voters tend to think of Medicaid as a safety net for low-income pregnant women and disabled Americans. But Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act expanded the program into a permanent entitlement for childless men in prime working age.”
“Some Republicans fear work requirements would alienate male MAGA voters, but that whiffs the politics. Some 62% of voters supported Medicaid work requirements in a recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll. That included 47% of Democrats, 60% of independents, and 82% of Republicans.”
“In other words, House Speaker Mike Johnson was on firm ground when he told a reporter recently that Medicaid isn’t‘for 29-year-old males sitting on their couches playing video games’ and that ‘we’re going to find those guys, and we’re going to send them back to work.’”
“Work as a condition for benefits is an American economic and cultural norm. If more healthy men get back into the workforce, and ultimately off Medicaid, the program will be able to focus on the poor for whom it was originally intended.”
THE BOTTOM LINE
Americans overwhelmingly support an effective, mandatory work requirement for able-bodied adults receiving taxpayer-funded government benefits. The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board argues in favor of work requirements for Medicaid beneficiaries, describing the program as a “fast-growing entitlement that now spends more than $850 billion a year while delivering subpar healthcare for the poor.”
The Medicaid program is broken andfailingthe most vulnerable Americans it was originally designed to support. Federal spending on Medicaid has skyrocketed, while access to quality care for the most vulnerable beneficiaries has declined.
It’s time to face reality: The era of spending without limits or accountability has reached its breaking point. We must start by reducing the debt, a challenge that’s daunting but not insurmountable, and focus our resources on those who need it most.
The House and Senate recently agreed to the Fiscal Year 2025 House Concurrent Budget Resolution, which includes instructions for the House to lower our overall indebtedness by reducing the debt-to-GDP ratio by ten percentage points and sets forth a legislative blueprint that empowers Congress to cut waste, fraud, and abuse, while preserving programs for the most vulnerable.
MORE FROM THE HOUSE BUDGET COMMITTEE
Read about how California extended free taxpayer funded health insurance to illegal aliens through the state’s Medicaid program HERE.
Read Chairman Arrington’s statement on CBO’s report confirming the Biden Administration spent over $16.2 billion on emergency health care in Medicaid for illegal aliens HERE.
