Mike Johnson, House speaker, says Medicaid changes will not impact deserving beneficiaries

House Speaker Mike Johnson says Democrats are lying about the impact President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” will have on Medicaid to cast a pall over the legislation and give them cover to vote against the fiscally prudent proposal.

Mr. Johnson said Mr. Trump is correct to say the plan only cuts “waste, fraud, and abuse” out of Medicaid and that the working-class voters who backed him will not lose health insurance.

“We are not cutting Medicaid in this package,” Mr. Johnson said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “There is a lot of misinformation out there about this.”

“The number of Americans who are affected are those that are entwined in our work to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse,” the Louisiana Republican said.

Medicaid was created in 1965 under President Lyndon B. Johnson to provide health insurance for low-income people. It was limited to mothers and children, pregnant women and people with disabilities.

The program expanded under Obamacare to include low-income, able-bodied adults without dependents earning up to 138% of the poverty level. The law directed every state to expand the program, but the Supreme Court ruled it optional in 2012. Currently, 40 states and the District of Columbia have adopted the expansions.

The Congressional Budget Office recently estimated the House-passed plan would leave millions without health insurance.

The findings provided more ammunition for Democrats to use against the bill.

“The cuts to Medicaid are going to be devastating to rural America and rural Colorado,” Sen. Michael Bennet, Colorado Democrat, said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “I spent a ton of time listening to health care providers in red parts of the state that voted for Donald Trump that are not engaged in waste, fraud, and abuse. They are engaged in trying to deliver health care on a shoestring as it is.”

“It is going to drive a lot of these providers out of business,” Mr. Bennet said. “It is going to make it impossible for people that live a very long way from Denver to be able to get health care for their kids.”

Some Senate Republicans, including Susan Collins of Maine and Josh Hawley of Missouri, have raised concerns about the proposed Medicaid changes.

That creates a challenge for Senate Majority Leader John Thune. The South Dakota Republican only has three votes to spare in the Senate.

Mr. Johnson has sought to set the record straight, brushing aside the Medicaid-related criticism from Democrats as bogus.

“Democrats are twisting the facts,” he said. “They are trying to put out misinformation because they are going to vote against this, and there is no way to defend it.”

“What it means is they are going to be voting for more fraud, waste, and abuse — instead of the elimination of it,” he said.

Mr. Johnson said the changes made to Medicaid are meant to weed out the illegal aliens who benefit from the program, and millions of “able-bodied workers.”

“Young men, for example, who are on Medicaid and not working,” the House speaker said. “They are choosing not to work when they can. This is called fraud. They are cheating the system.”