After Decades of Tough Talk on Medicaid Waste, Fraud, and Abuse, Democrats Call GOP Reforms ‘Shameful’Sean Moran 15 May 2025
Despite Democrats’ repeated calls for decades to rid Medicaid of waste, fraud, and abuse, now that Republicans are poised to deliver major Medicaid reform those same Democrats are crying foul.
House Republicans have unveiled portions of President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” that would, along with extending the Trump tax cuts, slash government spending by attempting to root out “waste, fraud, and abuse” in Medicaid.
“Savings like these allow us to use this bill to renew the Trump tax cuts and keep Republicans’ promise to hardworking middle-class families,” House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie (R-KY) said.
The reforms would include “community engagement requirements” of at least 80 hours per month, which includes work, education, or service for able-bodied adults without dependents. It would also mandate that those on the program would have to verify eligibility to be in the program twice per year instead of the standard one time per year.
Democrats have said that the proposed cuts are “shameful” and claim that the reforms amount to another attempt to repeal Obamacare, more formally known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
“In no uncertain terms, millions of Americans will lose their health care coverage,” Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ), the top Democrat on the Energy and Commerce Committee, remarked.
He then claimed that “hospitals will close, seniors will not be able to access the care they need, and premiums will rise for millions of people if this bill passes.”
Even though Democrats have cried foul over Republicans’ reforms, former Democrat presidents and Democrat congressional leaders have repeatedly called to remove waste, fraud, and abuse from the program.
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) asked rhetorically in 2010 at then-President Barack Obama’s healthcare summit:
And the real nub of this is how do we wring that waste out, that fraud, abuse, duplication [emphasis added], without interfering with the good care that we want every person on Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurance to get. The average citizen knows this happens. How many times, when you look at your medical bill, you’ve undergone a minor procedure, and you see Dr. Smith, $4,000, and you sort of vaguely remember he just waved and poked his head in the door?
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https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2025/05/15/after-decades-of-tough-talk-on-medicaid-waste-fraud-and-abuse-democrats-call-gop-reforms-shameful/
