'No basis in reality': Expert turns tables on key Democrat claim against Trump's 'big, beautiful bill'

Democrats in Washington, D.C., are misrepresenting large criticisms of President Trump’s "big beauteous bill" with incorrect facts, according to an adept who spoke to Fox News Digital this week arsenic Trump’s fund reconciliation bundle is debated successful Congress. 

"The measure doesn't chopped benefits for anyone who has income beneath the poorness line, anyone who is moving astatine slightest 20 hours a week and not caring for a child, and radical who are Americans," Jim Agresti, president and cofounder of Just Facts, told Fox News Digital successful effect to criticisms from Democrats and a fistful of Republicans, including Sen. Josh Hawley, that Trump’s measure volition chopped Medicaid and disproportionately wounded the poor. 

"In different words, it cuts retired amerciable immigrants who are not Americans and fraudsters. So that communicative has nary ground successful reality. See, what's been going connected since the Medicaid programme was started? Is that it's been expanded and expanded and extended. You know, it got its commencement successful 1966. And since that time, the poorness complaint has stayed astir level astir 11% to 15%. While the information of radical successful the United States connected Medicaid has skyrocketed from 3% to 29%. Right now, 2.5 times much radical are connected Medicaid than are successful poverty."

Medicaid cuts and betterment person been a major sticking point with Democrats, who have merged information from 2 caller reports from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to backmost up claims that astir 14 cardinal would suffer coverage. The White House and Republicans person objected, arsenic not each the argumentation proposals evaluated were really included successful Republicans' legislation, and acold less radical would really look security loss. 

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Fox News Digital spoke to Just Facts President Jim Agresti astir President Trump's bill. (Getty/Fox News Digital)

Instead, Republicans reason that their projected reforms to instrumentality enactment requirements, fortify eligibility checks and ace down connected Medicaid for amerciable immigrants sphere the programme for those who truly request it. 

"I agree," Dem. Rep. Jasmine Crockett said successful response to a assertion connected CNN that Republicans "want mediocre radical to die" with Medicaid cuts. 

Agresti told Fox News Digital that the Medicaid cuts are aimed at bringing radical retired of poorness and waste. 

"It's putting immoderate criteria down to say, 'Hey, if you privation this, and you're not successful poverty, you request to work,'" Agresti said. "You request to bash thing to amended your situation, which is what these programs are expected to be, lifting radical retired of poverty, not sticking them determination for eternity. So the full thought is to get radical working, springiness them an incentive. Hey, if you privation to bash amended successful life, and you privation this Medicaid coverage, past you person to gain it."

Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders has claimed the measure is simply a "death condemnation for the moving class," due to the fact that it raises wellness security "copayments for mediocre people."

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Sen. Bernie Sanders delivered a effect code to President Trump's code to a associated league of Congress.  (Joe Maher/Getty Images For Fane)

Agresti called that assertion "outlandish."

"First of all, the Big Beautiful Bill does not rise copayments connected anyone who's beneath the poorness line," helium explained. "Now, for radical who are supra the poorness line, it requires states to astatine slightest complaint immoderate benignant of copayment, and it besides reduces, actually, the max copayment from $100 per sojourn to $35 per visit."

Agresti went connected to explicate that nether the existent system, "people person fundamentally escaped rein to conscionable spell to a doc oregon an exigency country oregon immoderate different spot without immoderate co-payment, and they're not successful poverty."

"What ends up happening is they discarded a ton of money," Agresti said. "This has been proven done randomized power trials, which are the golden modular for societal subject analysis, wherever you person radical successful a lottery system, immoderate radical get the benefit, and immoderate radical don't, and what you extremity up seeing is that radical who don't person to person tegument successful the game, maltreatment exigency rooms, they spell determination for a stuffy nose, rack up each this money, and it does thing to amended their health. It's conscionable wasteful."

In a connection to Fox News Digital, Sanders Communications Director Anna Bahr said, "Mr. Agresti’s facts present are simply incorrect."

Sanders' bureau added that "nearly fractional of each enrollees connected the ACA exchanges are Republicans" and pointed to the House-passed reconciliation measure that Sanders' bureau argues "says that if a idiosyncratic can’t navigate the maze of paperwork that the measure creates for Medicaid enrollees, they are barred from receiving ACA taxation credits arsenic well."

"But workers indispensable gain astatine slightest $15,650 per twelvemonth to suffice for taxation credits connected the ACA marketplaces – astir adjacent to the yearly income for a full-time idiosyncratic earning the national minimum wage."

Sanders' bureau besides pointed to "CBO estimates that 16 cardinal radical volition suffer security arsenic a effect of the House-passed measure and the Republicans ending the ACA’s enhanced premium taxation credits."

Sanders' bureau besides reiterated that the House-passed measure makes a "fundamental change" to copay for Medicaid beneficiaries, shifting from optional to mandatory.

"While claiming that I’m ‘incorrect,’ Sanders’ unit fails to supply a azygous information that shows the BBB cuts wellness attraction for mediocre moving Americans," Agresti responded. 

"It’s particularly laughable that they mention expanded Obamacare subsidies successful this context, due to the fact that radical successful poorness aren’t adjacent eligible for them," Agresti continued. "After this ‘temporary' Covid-era handout expires, radical with incomes up to 400% of the national poorness level — oregon $150,600 for a household of 5 — volition inactive beryllium eligible for this payment program, though they volition person less."

Agresti argued that the assertion a "max $35 copay (for radical who are not poor) ‘hurts moving families’" is not supported by probe "which makes generalizations and simply cites ‘associations.'"

"As commonly taught successful precocious schoolhouse math, relation doesn’t beryllium causation," Agresti said. 

Sanders' bureau told Fox News Digital, "Mr. Agresti seems to judge that a moving household of 4 earning lone $32,150 per twelvemonth doesn’t merit assistance affording their wellness care. Health attraction successful the United States is much costly than anyplace successful the world. Terminating wellness attraction sum for 16 cardinal Americans and expanding wellness attraction costs for millions volition marque it harder for moving radical to spend the wellness attraction they need, adjacent if Mr. Agresti doesn’t agree."

Agresti besides took contented with the communicative that cuts cannot beryllium made to Medicaid without cutting benefits to radical who are entitled to them.

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The Capitol Building from the National Mall successful Washington D.C., connected Friday, August 9, 2024. (Aaron Schwartz/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

"The Government Accountability Office has enactment retired figures that are astonishing, hundreds of billions of dollars a twelvemonth are going to waste," Agresti said. "So, yeah, immoderate criteria to marque definite that doesn't hap is simply a omniscient idea. Unfortunately, determination is simply a ton of white-collar transgression successful this country, and this benignant of transgression is simply a white-collar crime. It's not committed with a gun, oregon by robbing oregon punching someone, it's committed by fraud, and there's an tremendous magnitude of it. 

"And the big, beauteous bill, again, seeks to rein that successful by putting a criteria to marque definite we're checking people's income, we're checking their assets. A batch of these national programs, authorities wellness attraction programs, they've stopped checking assets. So you could beryllium a lottery victor sitting connected $3 cardinal successful currency and person precise small income. And inactive get children's wellness security programme benefits for your kids."

Hawley said connected Monday that helium did not person a occupation with immoderate of the marquee changes to Medicaid that his House Republican counterparts wanted, including stricter enactment requirements, booting amerciable immigrants from payment rolls and rooting retired waste, fraud and maltreatment successful the programme that serves tens of millions of Americans.

However, helium noted that astir 1.3 cardinal Missourians trust connected Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and contended that astir were working.

"These are not radical who are sitting around, these are radical who are working," helium said. "They’re connected Medicaid due to the fact that they cannot spend backstage wellness insurance, and they don't get it connected the job."

"And I conscionable deliberation it's incorrect to spell to those radical and say, ‘Well, you know, we cognize you're doing the best, we cognize that you're moving hard, but we're going to instrumentality distant your wellness attraction access,’" helium continued. 

Fox News Digital’s Diana Stancy and Alex Miller contributed to this report.