Josh Brecheen Claims Medicaid Is ‘No Longer For the Poor’ And Strays Away From The ‘Truly’ Needy

During House floor remarks last week, Rep. Josh Brecheen (R-OK) spoke about potential cuts to Medicaid.

Transcript

00:00Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute.

00:02Medicaid was created to provide health insurance for the poor, blind, disabled, pregnant, and elderly.

00:08As you can see from this paragon chart, Medicaid is no longer for the poor

00:11and now serves more people living above the poverty line than below it.

00:15Additionally, since 2012, the Medicaid population has grown 60%

00:20while the U.S. population has only grown 6% according to the Foundation for Government Accountability.

00:25Following Obamacare's Medicaid expansion, able-bodied adults now make up its largest subgroup according to FGA.

00:31Democrats claim these able-bodied adults are working,

00:34but these claims are derived from self-reported data relying on sample sizes as small as a few dozen.

00:40In reality, FGA has records for 21 million beneficiaries among 23 states

00:45showing that 6 in 10 of these able-bodied beneficiaries do not work at all.

00:49As more able-bodied individuals are added to Medicaid,

00:53truly needy, and disabled Americans are being displaced from priority services.

00:57700,000 disabled Americans are stuck on Medicaid wait lists

01:02while able-bodied adults above the poverty line have access to taxpayer-funded health care.

01:07The goal of social programs should never be to gain able-bodied enrollees

01:11but to decrease government dependency and help them escape poverty.

01:14As shown in this chart,

01:16depiction during the Contract with America and the first administration time period, I yield.

01:20Thank you. For what purpose does the gentlelady from Minnesota seek recognition?

01:23I ask for unanimous consent to address the House for-