Democrats Make Protecting Fraud Their “Day One” Agenda

Democrats are brazenly promising to throw the door wide open to fraud if they win back control of Congress this November – yet the media has virtually ignored it.

Earlier this month, House Democrat Leader Hakeem Jeffries unveiled a “first 100 days” agenda that his party plans to implement come January to deliver on “affordability.” A central part of that agenda is reversing what Democrats call the Trump administration’s “Medicaid cuts” passed as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) last year.

The New York Times has uncritically parroted this framing, describing the plan as a “shock-and-awe legislative sprint to demonstrate within hours of taking power that they are passing bills to deliver on their promises, including restoring health care subsidies and Medicaid resources.” The Associated Press likewise called the 100-day plan a “hyper-focused agenda” that includes “reversing Republican Medicaid cuts.”

But there’s just one problem – Trump didn’t actually “cut” Medicaid. Rather, the administration stopped money from flowing to people who should have never received it in the first place. Democrat promises to restore Medicaid funding to people who have lost it are explicit promises to re-enable the fraud that Trump has cracked down on.

The OBBB’s Medicaid provisions made three major changes to the program aimed at protecting benefits for those who truly need them.

First, the bill enacted stronger protections to ensure that illegal aliens are not receiving Medicaid. While Democrats point out that illegal aliens are already barred from the program, the reality is that many were using workarounds to receive taxpayer-funded benefits.

Second, the law established a new requirement that able-bodied adults on Medicaid aged 19 to 64 work at least 80 hours per month, be enrolled in job training, be actively pursuing a degree, or engage in community service. Previously, many working-age adults simply refused to find gainful employment and relied on taxpayer-funded Medicaid for healthcare.

Finally, the OBBB requires states to redetermine eligibility for certain enrollees every six months instead of once a year, starting in 2027. Those more frequent checks make it more difficult for people who no longer qualify to stay on as recipients.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) found that 2.8 million people were potentially enrolled in Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program in more than one state, or in both Medicaid and a subsidized exchange plan, according to a 2025 analysis. The agency estimated that those overlaps cost taxpayers about $14 billion a year. The OBBB gives states and CMS new tools to identify and stop these double payments; Democrats’ day-one plan is to scrap them.

The Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General also estimated that Medicaid agencies paid $207.5 million in unallowable managed-care premiums for deceased enrollees in a single year, according to a December 2025 audit. Of 100 sampled payments, 99 were made after the enrollee’s death. The OBBB requires states to check the Social Security Full Death Master File at least quarterly starting in 2027.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the Medicaid provisions of the OBBB would reduce the deficit by roughly $887 billion from 2025 through 2034. Those savings come from requiring people to prove they still qualify and from ending duplicate payments and payments to ineligible noncitizens.

The simple reality is that the OBBB makes it more difficult to commit fraud and divert resources from people who need them. A wholesale reversal would eradicate rules meant to stop duplicate enrollment, payments to the deceased, and other unproven eligibility claims.

In other words, Democrats’ “first 100 days” agenda is a pledge to put illegal aliens, able-bodied adults who refuse to work, and fraudsters back on government benefits.

Even more concerning for taxpayers, Democrats’ ambitions to reverse Republican anti-fraud protections in Medicaid just the beginning.

A September 2026 memorandum sent to Jeffries from House Democrats’ Cost-of-Living Healthcare Working Group, co-chaired by Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Terri Sewell, states that “undoing H.R. 1 is the floor, but not the ceiling.” Their “first 100 hours” plan pairs the Medicaid rollback with a federal right to abortion and the end of the Hyde Amendment, so federal programs like Medicaid would cover abortion.

The document further lists Medicare for All, multiple public-option models, and lowering the Medicare eligibility age as options for “an ambitious path towards universal coverage.”

One person familiar with the memo told Politico that it was a “kitchen-sink-type document where everyone got their idea put in. Nobody was told no.”

In addition to their first 100 days “affordability” agenda centered on protecting Medicaid fraud, Democrats also say they will restore the expanded COVID-era Obamacare subsidies that expired last year. Those subsidies lower premiums for people who buy coverage on the exchanges, but they do not change the underlying cost of care.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated that making those subsidies permanent would add roughly $350 billion to deficits over a decade; undoing the OBBB would add another $272 billion.

Jeffries and House Democrats talk a big game about holding “crooks” accountable. But their day-one agenda leads with a promise to scrap every rule meant to stop waste, fraud, and abuse.