Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) is supporting amendments to the One Big Beautiful Bill that would allegedly prevent Democrat-run states from taking advantage of Florida in the distribution of Medicaid benefits.
The measure recently began its Senate journey following its passage in the House of Representatives and includes a variety of policies including no taxes on tips, tax cuts, and immigration and Medicaid reforms.
According to supporters of the bill, the Senate’s approval of it would codify numerous salutary Trump administration policies.
However, Senator Scott is supporting recent amendments made to the bill to prevent Florida from paying for wasteful Medicaid benefits that are reportedly being funneled to Democrat states.
New findings published by the President’s Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) reveal that childless, working-age, able-bodied adults across the US are receiving billions in Medicaid funds when they could otherwise be working to earn such money.
Specifically, the findings outline how federal taxpayers spent $56.1 billion on Medicaid for childless, working-age, able-bodied adults working 20 weekly hours or less in 2024 alone, amounting to 11 percent of total federal Medicaid spending.
Over one-third of such funds are being diverted to Democrat-led states like New York ($6.4 billion) and California ($13.5 billion), while residents in states like Florida receive scant funds.
Consequently, Scott argued that Florida residents are financing California and New York residents’ wasteful Medicaid benefits and argued in support of the bill's amendments to end the unfair situation.
“Right now, Floridians and hardworking Americans living in red states are being taken advantage of by California liberals,” stated Scott as he highlighted the CEA’s findings.
Overall, the CEA reports that among able-bodied adults on Medicaid without children, 44 percent worked less than 20 hours per week in 2024, of which 88 percent are not working at all.
“We’ve got to fix this in the Big Beautiful Bill to protect our most vulnerable,” Scott expounded.
Currently, the bill's medicare reforms include work requirements for able-bodied working-age adults without dependents and similar anti-fraud and waste measures.
