Newsmax host: “At some point every entitlement needs to be looked at”
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From the June 30, 2025, edition of Newsmax's Rob Schmitt Tonight
ROB SCHMITT (HOST): And we couldn't even get the turn -- you needed 60 to get the illegals off of Medicaid today, right? So that didn't happen. That was a big loss, right? I mean, that's going to be a very expensive, I think, mistake by the parliamentarian.
SEN. RON JOHNSON (GUEST): Well, again, we can complain about the parliamentarian, but we have a job to do here. And, you know, the good news is that $651 billion shortfall could be easily solved. All we have to do is vote for Rick Scott's amendment. He's an expert in health care. He's proposed the most damaging part of Obamacare. That's the, what they call Medicaid expansion. But what that is — traditional Medicaid pays one, for every dollar state puts in traditional Medicaid, federal government puts in, on average, about $1.33. For the Medicaid expansion, the single adults that should be working, could be working -- for every dollar the state puts in, we put in 9. That is creating all kinds of distortions. The states are scamming the system. Providers are scamming the system. That's what we're trying to correct. So Rick Scott would just say we're going to cap Medicaid expansion enrollment sometime in the future. That literally could save $500 billion if we do it on January 1, 2029. Give these providers plenty time to rearrange their budgets so it's not really dependent on that scam.
SCHMITT: Yeah. But I just -- you know what's really frustrating is that, I mean, you look at these programs, I mean, at some point every entitlement needs to be looked at. And the moment that you even talk about it, you get lambasted by the media and the other side as if they're not aware of the deficit disaster that we already currently have. I mean, you even just hint at Medicaid reform because there is so much waste. There's so many people pulling from that that shouldn't be. And they immediately say, you're going to kill somebody's grandma.
JOHNSON: Again, that was the design of Obamacare. You know, let's go to single-payer system. Let's bring up single adults who should be working, getting health care through their employer. But we incentivize them not to work. Your earlier segment was saying, we can't get people to fill these jobs. Well, we pay them not to work --
SCHMITT: Pay them not to work.
JOHNSON: So this is a huge problem. Nobody wants to take Medicaid away from children. It's Medicaid expansion. Those single adults who get, again, reimbursed $9 to 1 that's crowding out to those vulnerable populations from even providers.
SCHMITT: It's not an easy job that you guys have. And I have to say that I have respect for the ones like yourself and others that are willing to at least consider the debt and the deficit in this country, even if it gets you catching hell from even the president at some point. It's, you know, you're speaking for the people that don't have a voice in Washington, and that is appreciated.