What explains the resistance to Medicaid cuts?
The Trump Administration has a record of getting things wrong
On the “big, beautiful bill”: Critics say “millions” of Americans might be thrown off Medicaid, a program designed to help the poor. That is true, but not the whole story.
Some 72 million Americans are enrolled in Medicaid.
There are nearly 14 million who are considered able-bodied working-age adults without dependents as of 2022, according to data from the People’s Policy Project.
The BBB would require able-bodied, childless adults between 18 and 64 to work at least 80 hours a month to maintain their benefits, or to participate in community service, go to school or engage in a work program.
Those requirements would not apply to pregnant women, parents, medically frail individuals and people with substance-abuse disorders, among others.
This sounds entirely reasonable, unless you believe that loafers are entitled to leech off and abuse the system through a form of fraud. Republicans should reframe the discussion as “reform” of Medicaid, rather then cuts.
Why the hysterical opposition from Democrats, aside from the usual business of politics?
They, and I, do not trust Republicans to get it right.
Why not trust? Experience.
The Republicans turned Elon Musk loose on the bureaucracy, and he had to reverse himself after illegally or foolishly firing many thousands of people doing vital work. The Secretary of Defense engaged in discussing classified material — yes, it was — on an unsecured line. The Secretary of Health and Human Services just released a report that used nonexistent documents as source material. In school, a term paper like that would get an F.
In other words, why should we trust the Trump Administration to get the Medicaid fix right, with its proven record getting so much wrong?
