This op-ed by Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) first appeared in NOLA.com on September 19, 2025.
Some people in Washington enjoy scaring Americans to score political points. The current debate on Medicaid is a prime example.
Since President Donald Trump signed the 2025 reconciliation bill, which some call the One Big Beautiful Bill, into law, those opposing the legislation, mostly Democrats, have been telling anyone who will listen that the new law will cut Medicaid benefits to Americans in need.
If you believe that, you also believe in the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny, and that Jimmy Hoffa died of natural causes.
Here's the reality: Anyone who loses Medicaid benefits under the OBBB was not eligible for them in the first place. In fact, Medicaid will grow 2.7% each year for the next decade under the new law. Does that sound like a cut to you?
The OBBB does not cut Medicaid benefits for those who need them, but it does make sure that people who are not eligible for these benefits do not collect them. Since 2019, Medicaid spending has increased 60%. It’s unsustainable. If we wanted to ensure that Medicaid exists for current and future generations, Congress had to get to the bottom of this unsustainable growth rate and make some significant changes.
One reason Medicaid costs have ballooned is that states such as California, Illinois and Minnesota expanded Medicaid access to illegal immigrants. An estimated 1.4 million illegal immigrants collected Medicaid benefits in violation of federal law. The OBBB stops this. It ensures that Medicaid only benefits American citizens in need — not foreign nationals living in our country illegally.
The OBBB also protects Medicaid by stopping fraud. A woman in Louisiana, for example, was recently charged with Medicaid fraud after underreporting her income to claim she qualified for benefits. Officials became suspicious after the woman purchased a Lamborghini and underwent cosmetic surgery.
The OBBB will help ensure that Lamborghini drivers are not among the millions of Americans who collect Medicaid. The new law requires those on the program to confirm their income twice a year so officials can find the millionaire Medicaid recipients and send them packing and/or put them in jail.
The new law will also help block double-dippers. Millions of Americans have signed up for Medicaid in two states or for both Medicaid and taxpayer-subsidized Obamacare. There are 2.7 million double-dippers that we know of. This costs the American taxpayer $14 billion per year. The OBBB will stop it.
A final change that the OBBB makes to protect Medicaid benefits for those in need is to add a work requirement. Under the new law, healthy people with no dependents will have to work, look for work, go to school or volunteer for 20 hours per week to keep their Medicaid benefits.
Most fair-minded Americans believe that the federal government should save Medicaid for those who truly need it: individuals with illnesses or other disabilities, pregnant mothers, full-time caregivers and the elderly. But many people on Medicaid can work but choose not to.
We cannot afford to pay the benefits of those who do not need them, and the new law will ensure that those who can work do work if they want Medicaid. Sometimes the best way to get back on your feet is to get off your butt.
So yes, it’s true that the OBBB cuts Medicaid for some individuals. But the rest of the story is that they weren’t eligible for Medicaid in the first place.
Many of those public officials telling lies about the OBBB are doing it because they need to justify voting against the main provision in the OBBB: the biggest tax cut in American history. They know most Americans are too busy going to work and raising their families to read through the Medicaid provisions in the bill, and they are choosing to scare people with lies about cuts to the program.
The truth is that the OBBB will leave Medicaid stronger than ever by protecting benefits for those who truly need them.
