U.S. Senator John Kennedy Speaks On His Medicaid Reform Bill On Senate Floor

U.S. Senator John Kennedy spoke on the Senate floor touting a Medicaid reform bill that he has filed. Kennedy says it would require adults ages 18 to 55, that have no dependents and are not disabled, to work 20 hours a week, go to school or do community service to receive Medicaid.

“If the American people in Congress decide that Medicaid is going to be a health insurance program for the general population, then it needs to operate like health insurance does in the private sector.”

Kennedy says he filed The Medicaid Reform and Personal Responsibility Act of 2017 as not an attempt to take Medicaid away from people in need but so fewer people need Medicaid.

“I don’t want our people to remain mired in poverty. I want to break poverty’s back by creating a system that doesn’t force the American people to subsist on handouts from government.”

Kennedy says requiring 20 hours of schooling or work provides an incentive for able bodied Americans to know the dignity of work. He says a person without a job is neither happy nor free.

“My goal is to get people off Medicaid, into the workforce, support themselves and not need Medicaid.”