Mike Johnson says some Medicaid recipients will 'choose' to lose healthcare

Speaker Mike Johnson on Sunday defended cuts to Medicaid in the budget bill, saying, "People will not lose their Medicaid unless they choose to do so."

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on Sunday defended cuts to Medicaid in the budget bill House Republicans passed last month, saying that “4.8 million people will not lose their Medicaid unless they choose to do so.”

Johnson told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” that the bill imposes “commonsense” work requirements for some Medicaid recipients and added that he’s “not buying” the argument that the work requirements, which would require able-bodied Medicaid recipients to work, participate in job training programs or volunteer for 80 hours a month, are too “cumbersome.”

“You’re telling me that you’re going to require the able-bodied, these young men, for example, OK, to only work or volunteer in their community for 20 hours a week. And that’s too cumbersome for them?” Johnson told “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker. “I’m not buying it. The American people are not buying it.”

The bill also adds new rules and paperwork requirements for those Medicaid recipients and increases eligibility checks and address verifications.

Johnson argued that the work requirements “should have been put in a long time ago.”