The Left’s Latest Scare Campaign Over Medicaid

Democrats are in a panic over potential changes in Washington that would add Medicaid work requirements for able-bodied, childless adults and that would stop propping up the government’s unaffordable Affordable Care plans.

“If Republicans get their way, 250,000 Wisconsinites will lose their coverage as health care costs are jacked up on thousands more,” Sen. Tammy Baldwin said in a press release this week.

Baldwin’s figure comes from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), which estimates that up to 16 million people across the country could lose their health insurance or Medicaid coverage because of what’s in and what isn’t in the One Big Beautiful Bill. Democrats then attempted to calculate how each state would be impacted individually, using unnamed datasets.

The One Big Beautiful Bill adds work requirements for some Medicaid recipients. Able-bodied, childless adults would have to work (or participate in work related activities like education or training) for at least 80 hours a month or the state would lose federal funding for them. The CBO says that could affect 7.5 million people across the country. According to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, there are 232,000 able-bodied, childless adults on Medicaid (BadgerCare Plus) in Wisconsin. Democrats seem to believe148,254 of them refuse to work and the feds would no longer foot the bill for them under the Republican plan.

Democrats are also upset because Republicans in Washington are not interested in extending the “Premium Tax Credits” that were included in the 2021 Covid relief bill. Those credits do not go directly to consumers. Rather, they go to the insurers, who lower the premium costs up front. However, many of the Affordable Care plans are not affordable even with the premium tax credits. In one example, a family of four is currently paying $893 a month in premiums, which would go up to $1,589 a month.

The premium tax credits expire at the end of this year. The CBO says that could result in 8.5 million people across the country. Democrats say 110,142 of them are in Wisconsin. According to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, 266,327 Wisconsin residents currently receive health insurance through Obamacare. The number increased from 195,498 in 2020, which means only about 70,000 enrollments can be attributed to the enhanced premium tax credits that were passed in 2021.

Although these changes only impact very specific populations, Democrats and their liberal allies are trying to convince everyone who receives insurance through BadgerCare or Obamacare that their coverage is at risk.

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services, for example, pointed out that 20% of Wisconsin residents are on BadgerCare, and warned that “Congress is considering massive Medicaid cuts, putting our people, our health care system, and our economy at risk.” In reality, the change would only impact able-bodied childless adults who refuse to work, which comes out to 3.9% of the state’s population at most. (In fact, many of them might already be working 80 hours a month).

Liberal groups, like Wisconsin Watch, go even further, claiming that congress wants to take away Medicaid from children, pregnant women, and disabled recipients. Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-Wisconsin) says those are actually the groups that Republicans are actively working to protect.

"Medicaid should be preserved for the most vulnerable – the disabled, pregnant women, single mothers, and low-income children. To protect the program, we must implement reforms to root out fraud, enforce work requirements for able-bodied, childless adults, and ensure benefits do not go to illegal aliens,” Tiffany said.

Apparently, the idea that Republicans are trying to kick the truly needy off of Medicaid is too powerful a narrative for Democrats like Tammy Baldwin to let the truth get in the way.