Photo: Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images News / Getty Images
With less than two weeks until the midterm elections, Medicaid has emerged as a major campaign issue. Democrats are attacking Republicans over a law projected to reduce federal Medicaid spending by more than $900 billion through 2034. According to The Hill, the law, known as the One Big Beautiful Bill, is criticized for cutting Medicaid funding to pay for tax cuts for wealthy individuals and corporations.
Republicans argue that the changes target waste, fraud, and abuse while preserving coverage for eligible Americans and investing $50 billion in rural healthcare. California Rep. David Valadao defended his vote for the law, stating, "There are no actual cuts" to Medicaid, and emphasized the law's additional funding for rural healthcare.
Democrats are spending heavily on healthcare-focused ads, particularly in competitive House and Senate races. Recent polling shows voters remain deeply concerned about healthcare costs and give Democrats an advantage on the issue. A KFF poll indicates that 62% of voters are worried about affording healthcare costs, and they trust Democrats more to handle these issues.
The Trump administration's focus on Medicaid includes suspending billions of dollars in Medicaid money to states and disenrolling hundreds of thousands of people from ObamaCare. Some lawmakers highlight smaller investments made as part of the law’s rural health fund, while others avoid the issue altogether.
Republican strategists acknowledge the challenge in defending the Medicaid cuts. Jason Cabel Roe, a Michigan-based strategist, said Democrats are successfully portraying the cuts as harmful, rather than as efforts to root out waste and fraud. "It is being portrayed as us, Republicans, cutting Medicaid as opposed to rooting out waste, fraud, abuse," Roe said.