There is a lot of misleading information out there about Medicaid and SNAP reforms being made to the programs to strengthen it.
Let me be clear, no expectant mothers, single parents, children, disabled, or elderly are losing SNAP or Medicaid benefits. That misinformation is being spread to try and scare people.
Since 2019 SNAP rolls have increased by 17% and the cost of the program has ballooned by 83%. States administer the program and collectively make almost $13 billion in erroneous payments to participants in the SNAP program. The national error rate of 11.68 percent has nearly doubled since 2019.
According to USDA’s own numbers, only 28% of able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWDs) are employed while receiving benefits. That means nearly three-quarters of this population are choosing to remain unemployed, even though jobs are widely available and they are perfectly capable of working. I am not alone in supporting work requirements. A recent poll showed that 72% of Americans agree.
The work requirement for this population is modest: work, train, or volunteer for just 20 hours per week. And there are broad work exemptions for people who are disabled, pregnant, elderly, veterans, homeless, or caring for dependents. But Democrats will tell you this policy is cruel and that food is being stolen from children.
Not only are a large percentage of ABAWDs not employed while receiving benefits, but some states choose not to enforce this work requirement at all. Currently, a total of seven states and territories have waived the work requirement and 24 have partial waivers. Only 22 states don’t have the waiver-including Nebraska. That means less funding is available for the vulnerable as their federal dollars are being used by beneficiaries who are capable of working and providing for themselves.
Clearly this isn’t sustainable for American Taxpayers. We are delivering on our promise to rein in waste and fraud, and this is how:
- Each state will be required to shoulder a share of the costs, based on their erroneous rates, beginning in 2028.
- Our team successfully negotiated with committee leadership to lower the burden of the state’s share. Nebraska was looking at shelling out an additional $83 million and we got that lowered to about $30 million. Plus, if Nebraska and other states lower their error rates, the share cost percentage will decrease.
- We are closing the loophole that has allowed states to waive work and volunteer requirements in areas that have low unemployment rates.
- The CBO says there are 4.8 million able-bodied adults choosing not to work.
- Restricting SNAP and Medicaid Eligibility to individuals who are legally here. There are 1.4 million individuals who are not legally here that are receiving SNAP benefits.
- Conducting an audit of the programs:
- There are 1.6 million people who are enrolled in multiple states at the same time.
- Some health insurers received $4.3 billion in duplicate payments for Medicaid patients enrolled in more than one state.
Making these straight-forward common-sense reforms will strengthen SNAP and Medicaid for our most vulnerable populations for generations to come.
For more information, you can visit
https://waysandmeans.house.gov/2025reconciliation/. Go to the map on that website and click on our district for district specific stats.
As always, it is a pleasure to serve the constituents of the 2nd District of Nebraska. If you have questions or concerns, feel free to reach out to us at https://bacon.house.gov/contact/.
