In its first hearing since Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) was elevated to chair, the Senate Budget Committee held an Aug. 4 hearing entitled "Medicaid: The Reality." The goal of the hearing was to hear from interested parties regarding the public debate related to so-called Medicaid fraud, state Medicaid program financing and funding mechanisms, and the impacts of a variety of safety-net policies passed as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) (P.L. 119-21).
Witnesses included Brian Blase, PhD, president of the Paragon Health Institute; Jonathan Ingram, JD, vice president of policy and research at the Foundation for Government Accountability; and Andy Schneider, JD, research professor of the practice at the Center for Children and Families at Georgetown University. Throughout the hearing, senators and witnesses debated a variety of waste, fraud, and abuse allegations in Medicaid financing as well as the practical implications of OBBBA Medicaid policies and their impact on access to care, specifically in rural communities.