The Senate parliamentarian has ruled that several Medicaid reform provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill cannot be approved through the budget reconciliation process, which requires a simple majority vote. This decision leaves unresolved issues regarding the program’s costs and abuses.
Jeremy Nighohossian, a health care policy expert at CEI, commented on the situation: “Congressional Republicans offered provisions that would have slowed the excessive growth of the Medicaid program. One of the provisions would have curtailed state abuse of funding gimmicks that pay health care providers rates well beyond what was intended under Medicaid.”
Nighohossian further explained, “Effectively, Medicaid providers pay no taxes yet still draw substantial federal tax dollars. Congress still needs to address this exploitation of the system.”