Right-wing media lay foundations for Republican cuts to Medicaid

Steve Bannon and other right-wing figures are proposing drastic rollbacks to Americans' health insurance coverage to pay for Trump’s massive tax cuts for the rich

Written by John Knefel

Research contributions from Sophie Lawton & Zachary Pleat

Published

Right-wing media figures have spent the beginning of President Donald Trump's second term urging congressional Republicans to drastically cut spending on Medicaid to offset the huge cost of President Donald Trump’s proposed tax cuts for the rich. 

The conservative pundits pushing this line have floated several policy options for the Medicaid cuts, including implementing work requirements for recipients or changing funding for the insurance program for poor people into a block grant issued to states. Many conservative figures also baselessly blame undocumented immigrants for driving up Medicaid costs, even though they are generally prohibited from accessing the program.

On February 25, Republicans in the House of Representatives passed a budget framework calling for $2 trillion in spending cuts and $4.8 trillion in tax cuts, which overwhelmingly benefit the wealthy. The resolution doesn’t directly call for cuts to Medicaid, and instead uses a rhetorical sleight-of-hand to disguise the rollbacks as part of an unspecified $880 billion reduction in spending. In his first Cabinet meeting, Trump claimed he wouldn’t “touch” Medicaid other than rooting out “fraud,” though there is not nearly enough improper spending in the health insurance program to cover Republicans’ proposed cuts.

Medicaid covers more than 72 million people in the United States, and the approaches advocated by right-wing pundits would put many of them at risk of losing their insurance. Imposing work requirements could result in 36 million people — across every state — losing their coverage. The unnecessary red tape is also a solution in search of a problem, as nearly two-thirds of recipients are already working full- or part-time, and most of the rest are either caring for family, have an illness or disability, or are in school. 

The first Trump administration allowed states the option to force Medicaid recipients to meet onerous work requirements. As the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found, two states that added the requirements fared poorly. “In Arkansas, about 1 in 4 enrollees subject to the requirements — some 18,000 people — lost coverage in only seven months in 2018 before a federal court halted the program,” CBPP wrote. In Georgia, two-thirds of the program’s spending went to administrative costs rather than health care, according to CBPP.

Republican lawmakers have floated the idea of turning Medicaid funding into block grants to states before, which experts estimated would result in a 25% percent spending decrease over 10 years.

These dangers notwithstanding, former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro, and other right-wing media figures have used their platforms to undermine Medicaid and celebrate the House GOP’s austerity budget plan.

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  • Steve Bannon promises to protect Medicaid for MAGA even as he calls for drastic cuts

    Bannon reacted to the House GOP budget plan by offering magical thinking and by speaking out of both sides of his mouth. He told his War Room audience that the deserving poor — U.S. citizens with a job who voted for Trump — would, or should, be able to keep their benefits once the undeserving poor had been removed.

    • On February 26, Bannon said programs like Medicaid were “where the big and significant cuts are going to come.” He added: “We're going to block grant it back to the states, or we're going to require, you know, stringent work requirements or we're going to say that no more illegal aliens on Medicaid.” [Real America’s Voice, War Room, 2/26/25]

    • Two days earlier, Bannon discussed Medicaid cuts extensively. “I’m all for cutting Medicaid, particularly taking the waste, fraud, and abuse,” Bannon said. “No. 1, I do think there has to be significant and meaningful work requirements for this,” he added. “No. 2, all illegal aliens — or even anyone on the margins of illegal aliens — have to be off those rolls. This has to get back to citizens, because the economic distress of the working class — Medicaid is needed now.”  [Real America’s Voice, War Room, 2/24/25]

    • Also on February 24, Bannon again paid lip service to Medicaid while advocating for policies that would undermine it. In describing the proposed cuts to the program, Bannon said, “People are saying, hey, what you're cutting is like, for instance, Medicaid, you've got to be careful about this because you're going to affect tons of working class people.” He later added: “You need to cut Medicaid — you can cut Medicaid with both work requirements and stopping Medicaid for illegal aliens, but it has to be really thought through." [Real America’s Voice, War Room, 2/24/25]

    • On February 13, Bannon acknowledged how devastating broad Medicaid cuts would be to a significant proportion of his audience. “Show me the trillions of dollars in cuts,” Bannon said. He added: “Stop whining about entitlements. Get into that discretionary spending, get into the Pentagon, get into Medicaid. Medicaid, you’ve got to be careful because a lot of MAGA is on Medicaid. I’m telling you. If you don’t think so, you’re dead wrong. Medicaid is going to be a complicated one. Just can’t take a meat-ax to it, although I would love to.” [Real America’s Voice, War Room, 2/13/25]

    • Bannon’s calls to cut Medicaid date back years. During a 2023 speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, he demanded “massive cuts in spending,” adding, “I think in Medicaid, these are going to be tough cuts, OK?” [Media Matters, 3/3/23] 

  • Right-wing media figures go all-in on big cuts to Medicaid and other social programs

    Like Bannon, Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk has used his show to support massive cuts to Medicaid.

    • On February 25, right-wing pundit Kane joined The Charlie Kirk Show to call for across the board cuts. “I’m so excited, Charlie, I’ve never seen anything like these cuts,” Kane said. He added: “I’m covering it nonstop and I want more. And we haven’t even gotten started. You know: Social Security, Defense, Medicare, Medicaid, those are going to be really, really big for cuts.” [Salem Media Group, The Charlie Kirk Show, 2/25/25]

    The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro cited what he described as excessive government spending to justify cuts to social safety net programs, including Medicaid — which he also later disparaged.

    • On February 24, Shapiro praised a September 2024 op-ed in The Wall Street Journal by former GOP Sen. Phil Gramm and Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-TX) calling for Medicaid work requirements. Shapiro agreed with the article’s conclusions, arguing that “what is actually driving America’s systemic national debt, what is driving our national deficit,” are “actually the means-tested social welfare spending programs, and precisely the things that neither party actually wants to touch — things like Medicaid, food stamps,” and other social programs. He added: “What’s actually going to bring long-lasting success is the politically difficult thing.” [The Daily Wire, The Ben Shapiro Show, 2/24/25; The Wall Street Journal, 9/11/24]

    • Two days later, Shapiro praised the House budget blueprint by attacking Medicaid and justifying tax cuts for the wealthy. “There's some good studies that actually demonstrate that Medicaid coverage is no better than you having no coverage.” He added: “The only people paying any level of net income taxes in the United States are people in the top income quintile.” [The Daily Wire, The Ben Shapiro Show, 2/26/25]

  • Fox News personalities push Medicaid austerity

    Across the Fox universe, some of its top stars have called for cuts to Medicaid in the form of work requirements and other restrictions.

    • During his February 28 radio show, Fox’s Mark Levin helped congressional Republicans hide the ball on Medicaid cuts, claiming the budget framework “has nothing to do with Medicaid.” [Westwood One, The Mark Levin Show, 2/28/25]

    • Three days earlier, Levin claimed Democrats were falsely accusing Republicans of cutting Medicaid even as he acknowledged and celebrated implementing work requirements. Congressional Republicans want to “see if illegal aliens are receiving it, they want to see if people, including young men who are quite capable of working but won't work and don't want to work, are receiving it.” He added: “And they call that cutting Medicaid. Cutting Medicaid. And so they're going to accuse the Republicans” of cutting the program. [Westwood One, The Mark Levin Show, 2/25/25]

    • On February 26, Fox News contributor Ari Fleischer called for Republicans to cut Medicaid. “These people need to come off,” Fleischer said. “They shouldn't be on Medicaid for life. So, Medicaid needs to be touched.” [Media Matters, 2/26/25]
    • On February 7, Fox News anchor Martha MacCallum agreed with Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) that there should be work requirements for Medicaid, which he had argued in a recent op-ed in National Review. “Well put. And the piece that you wrote is very interesting,” MacCallum said. “The idea is that if you're able-bodied and you are accepting Medicaid, you should be working as well. Gainfully employed. And it is an idea that I think would be common sense to a lot of people.” [Fox News, The Story, 2/7/25; National Review, 2/6/25]

    • A day earlier, Fox News anchor John Roberts also referenced Kennedy’s op-ed and falsely claimed there are “15 million able-bodied adults without children on Medicaid” who could work. Kennedy — and by extension, Roberts and his guest, Fox medical contributor Marc Siegel — relied on a mischaracterization of a report from the Congressional Budget Office, which in fact found that “many of those people would qualify for an exemption.” [Fox News, America Reports, 2/6/25; National Review, 2/6/25; Congressional Budget Office, 4/25/23]

    • On February 3, Fox News guest Vivek Ramaswamy appeared on Hannity and argued in favor of work requirements for Medicaid. “In order for the thinning out of the federal government to be successful, when in doubt, my advice is cut it at the federal level, and if it's a doubtful area, send it back to the states,” Ramaswamy said. “Thinking about work requirements for Medicaid and welfare that aren't being applied — that's an issue for the states.” [Fox News, Hannity, 2/3/25]

  • Heritage Foundation uses budget talks to push for Medicaid work requirements

    The Heritage Foundation — the lead organizer of Project 2025, a sprawling transition plan for the Trump administration — has long argued in favor of work requirements for Medicaid.

    • On February 20, Heritage posted an op-ed on its website that argued “states should be able to condition enrollment of able-bodied people on whether they’re working or looking for work.” The piece celebrated the first Trump administration’s decision to allow states to impose work requirements, despite the disastrous results in states that took up the opportunity. [The Heritage Foundation, 2/20/25; Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 2/5/25]

    • In 2023, Heritage argued in favor of work requirements for Medicaid and other welfare programs, claiming “work requirements are also an essential piece of putting long-term well-being at the heart of our safety-net programs.” [The Heritage Foundation, 4/26/23]

    • In 2019, Heritage published an op-ed titled “Medicaid Work Requirements Could Help the Poor.” [The Heritage Foundation, 1/9/19] 

    • Project 2025’s policy book, Mandate for Leadership, calls on the next administration to “Add work requirements” to Medicaid, in addition to “targeted time limits or lifetime caps on benefits to disincentivize permanent dependence.” [Project 2025, Mandate for Leadership, 2023]

  • Bringing a failed experiment to the entire country

    The policies proposed by right-wing media figures to cut Medicaid have failed on their own terms where they’ve been attempted, but have succeeded in immiserating the working class. Conservative pundits now want to impose their demand for austerity on the rest of the country.