Medicaid

Andrea Austria / Media Matters

Research/Study Research/Study

“You need to cut Medicaid”: Right-wing pundits call to gut health coverage for the poor

Written by Emma Mae Weber & Reed McMaster

Research contributions from John Knefel & Zachary Pleat

Published

Right-wing pundits are calling for cuts to Medicaid as the administration searches for ways to offset Trump’s tax cuts for the wealthy. Conservative media have set their sights on health care, advocating cuts to Medicaid and work requirements for its beneficiaries, which could knock millions off of their health insurance. 

  • Republicans are currently focusing in on cuts to Medicaid, which could put millions at risk of losing healthcare coverage

    • On February 25, Republicans in the House of Representatives passed a budget framework calling for up to $2 trillion in spending cuts and $4.5 trillion in tax cuts. 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. The New York Times reported that “Medicaid is likely to be the largest target for cuts to achieve the $880 billion in budget savings set out in the legislation.” [NYT, 2/26/25, 2/25/25]
    • According to the Congressional Budget Office, the GOP's budget resolution will not be feasible without huge cuts to Medicaid or Medicare. Trump said that only “fraud” will be cut to fund the agenda. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) falsely insisted that the Republican plan would help “save the program for those who really need it” by cutting “out the fraud, waste, and abuse.” [Politico, 2/25/25; The Guardian, 3/6/25; Media Matters, 3/6/25; Fox News, Outnumbered, 3/7/25]
    • Enacting work requirements for Medicaid could put 36 million people at risk of losing their coverage. As it currently stands, nearly two-thirds of Medicaid recipients are already working full or part-time, while most of the rest are either caring for family, have an illness or disability that prevents them from working, or are in school. The remaining 8% are not working because they are retired, unable to find work, or for another reason. [Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 2/5/25; KKF, 2/18/25]  

  • Right-wing pundits advocate for sweeping cuts to Medicaid

    • Fox News contributor Ari Fleischer: “Medicaid needs to be touched.” Fleischer called for kicking people off their health insurance, saying, “These people need to come off.” Fleischer added, “They shouldn't be on Medicaid for life. So, Medicaid needs to be touched.” [Fox News, The Story with Martha MacCallum, 2/26/25]
    • Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro suggested Medicaid is a waste of money and that coverage is “no better” than having no coverage. Shapiro praised the House budget blueprint and claimed, “There's some good studies that actually demonstrate that Medicaid coverage is no better than you having no coverage.” [The Daily Wire, The Ben Shapiro Show, 2/26/25]
    • Right-wing podcaster Candace Owens bizarrely claimed getting rid of Medicaid will make healthcare more affordable. Appearing on Theo Von's podcast, Owens argued, “If we get rid of Medicaid, if we get rid of Obamacare, whatever it is, then you guys are not gonna be able to afford — it's actually the exact opposite. Like, you get rid of these things, and you'll be able to afford it because you're getting rid of all these people that are just taking money from you and stealing from you.” [This Past Weekend with Theo Von, uploaded to YouTube, 3/5/25]
    • Right-wing pundit Kane from Citizen Free Press celebrated the cuts and called for more, specifically for Medicaid. “I’m so excited, Charlie, I’ve never seen anything like these cuts,” Kane said on The Charlie Kirk Show. He added: “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]
    • Fox guest Noah Rothman: “Until we start to address the really popular stuff that people like in entitlement programs, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and the interest on all that, we’re not going to be talking about real deficit reduction.” Rothman continued, “All of it matters, all of it contributes to, you know, getting back to a fiscally sound trajectory. We shouldn't be pooh-poohing this stuff that is bright and shiny and really obnoxious in the waste of what the federal government spends, but it’s just not going to be the end all, be all to get us to the point at which we're on a sounder fiscal trajectory.” [Fox News, America’s Newsroom, 3/3/25]

  • Right-wing pundits call for Medicaid work requirements

    • Steve Bannon argued, “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] 
    • Bannon also said, “I’m all for cutting Medicaid, particularly taking the waste, fraud, and abuse.” Bannon argued, “Number one, I do think there has to be significant and meaningful work requirements for this.” He added, “Number two, all illegal aliens — or even anyone on the margins of illegal aliens — have to be off those rolls.” [Real America’s Voice, War Room, 2/24/25]
    • Fox News anchor Martha MacCallum argued that work requirements are “common sense” while agreeing with Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) that there should be work requirements for Medicaid. Discussing a recent op-ed in National Review by Kennedy, MacCallum claimed, “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 with Martha MacCallum, 2/7/25; National Review, 2/6/25]
    • 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’s op-ed relied on a mischaracterization of a 2023 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; Media Matters, 3/4/25]
    • Ben Shapiro praised a September 2024 op-ed in The Wall Street Journal calling for Medicaid work requirements, adding that “what’s actually going to bring long-lasting success is the politically difficult thing.” Shapiro agreed with the article’s conclusions, arguing that the thing that “is actually driving America’s systemic national debt” is “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. [The Daily Wire, The Ben Shapiro Show, 2/24/25; The Wall Street Journal, 9/11/24]