Rep. Don Bacon admits he voted for Medicaid cuts

Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) acknowledged on Feb. 27 that the Republican budget he supported will likely lead to Medicaid cuts.

Bacon said last week that he was hesitant to support the bill due to its implications for Medicaid, but on Feb. 25 he voted for it anyway. Bacon told C-SPAN’s Washington Journal that the cuts would “not affect the quality of care.”

“For example, they’re going to add work requirements for able-bodied adults that don’t have children,” Bacon said. “They’re going to audit all the lists — they stopped doing that — and if you don’t belong on Medicaid they’ll take you off.”

These reforms alone, however, are unlikely to cover the more than $800 billion Republicans are reportedly considering cutting from the program.

More than 70 million Americans receive health insurance through Medicaid. About 12 million of those individuals also collect Medicare. 

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that new work requirements would cause 600,000 Americans to lose Medicaid, with most remaining unemployed or experiencing no change in their employment status.

Work requirements would only cut federal spending by $109 billion over the next decade.

Bacon’s remark about auditing Medicaid lists implies that millions of beneficiaries are defrauding the program. This claim has been made by other Republicans, including House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), and it is not true.

Since 1997, the Justice Department and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has produced an annual report investigating Medicaid fraud. These reports consistently found that the bulk of fraud is committed by health care providers and contractors, not beneficiaries.

About 6% of payments disbursed by Medicaid are categorized as improper. Republicans have pointed to these payments as proof of fraud but that is also not true. Improper payments can be overpayments or underpayments. While some of these payments may result from fraud, most are due to billing or paperwork errors.

Bacon has represented Nebraska’s 2nd district since 2017. He was reelected in 2024 by less than 6,000 votes. Approximately 78,000 of Bacon’s constituents receive Medicaid.

Bacon was one of 217 House Republicans to support the budget bill. No Democrats backed the legislation.

A Bacon spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.