Opinion: Don’t Fall for the Headlines — Medicaid Needs Fixing, Not Gutting By Dr. Tim Peck, Congressional Candidate IN-9

By Dr. Tim Peck, Congressional Candidate IN-9

People deserve to know the truth about what’s happening to Medicaid right now. Not partisan spin or misleading headlines, but facts.

Medicaid is not a perfect program. As a practicing emergency physician in Southern Indiana, I see the cracks in the system every day. Patients fall through. Systems glitch. Waste exists. But it’s also wildly better than the alternative — leaving millions of Americans uninsured in a country where getting sick is a fast track to financial ruin. Over 25 million U.S. citizens remain uninsured, and when they get sick, the costs can result in crippling medical debt for patients and their families, higher premiums for everyone, struggling hospitals, especially in rural communities. and unpaid costs that are too often shifted onto the taxpayer.

Unfortunately, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act doesn’t solve these problems.

One problem with the bill is that it imposes strict work requirements on Medicaid recipients. — up to 80 hours a month. On its surface, this may seem reasonable and even effective. But here’s the catch: most recipients who can work already do. In fact, 83% of working-age adults on Medicaid are either working, in school, caring for family members, or enrolled in job training programs. Arkansas attempted a work requirement, which resulted in over 18,000 people losing coverage.et employment rates didn’t rise. The state left patients without care, and workers still without jobs: Now Congress wants to do the same for all of us.

Another problem with this is that it targets patients on the edge of eligibility and families in states trying to do the right thing. What’s worse, many of the justifications for the changes to Medicaid are false: undocumented immigrants are not eligible for federal funds used to pay for Medicaid; we are not funding terrorists with healthcare dollars; and there is no epidemic of widespread fraud in Medicaid — most “improper payments” come from clerical errors or outdated systems. Even the claim that immigrants seeking legal status are abusing the system misrepresents how Medicaid actually works. These are blatantly false claims publicly made by our Congresswoman Erin Houchin. But it’s not just her and her Republican colleagues — some Democrats have exaggerated the legislation as a total dismantling of Medicaid rather than what it is — a dangerous steps toward its demise. This fearmongering — unfortunately often from both sides of the debate — distracts from the real problems and doesn’t move us toward solutions.

Let me be very clear about what this bill really does: it makes it easier to kick eligible people off of Medicaid, and it makes it harder for states to expand access or innovate. That’s not reform. That’s retreat.

Here’s what real reform would look like:

• Paying for outcomes, not just services and tests. Stop paying for ineffective and unnecessary procedures and reward value-driven care.
• Streamlining enrollment. Fewer hoops mean fewer administrative errors.Ensure people who qualify for Medicaid can actually get Medicaid.
• Tackling hidden middlemen. Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) stand between drugmakers, pharmacies, and insurers, often pocketing the difference and inflating drug prices. While these bipartisan efforts are a great start, they don’t go far enough.
• Modernizing data systems. Reduce fraud, waste, and abuse by investing in accurate enrollment verification tools.
• Rewarding states that innovate. If a state’s system reduces ER visits, improves maternal mortality, or exceeds other healthcare measures,  we should scale that success.

This isn’t about partisan politics  — it’s about finding solutions to actually improve patient care and reduce cost.We save it by aligning dollars with results and treating people with dignity every step of the way.

But instead of addressing the way we pay for care, this bill just blames the people receiving it. We’re not going to fix healthcare by punishing the sick and the poor. We’re not going to solve fraud by cutting off coverage. And we’re not going to protect Medicaid by making it harder for people to use.

We need a system that values health, not  merely cost savings. That rewards innovation, not obstruction. That helps people — not politicians and profit-seekers..

Hoosiers – and all Americans – deserve a healthcare system that is efficient, that is affordable, and that puts patients first. I call on all members of Congress to put people first, and reject the heartless, unnecessary, and ineffective cuts to Medicaid in this very ugly bill.

The post Opinion: Don’t Fall for the Headlines — Medicaid Needs Fixing, Not Gutting By Dr. Tim Peck, Congressional Candidate IN-9 first appeared on The Bloomingtonian.