Democrats are crying foul over Republican reforms to Medicaid—reforms they spent decades claiming to support. As House Republicans unveil President Trump’s new “big, beautiful bill,” which aims to extend tax cuts and slash wasteful spending, Democrats are now calling efforts to clean up Medicaid “shameful.”

At the heart of the bill is a push to eliminate massive fraud, abuse, and mismanagement within the Medicaid system. According to House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie (R-KY), the savings generated will be used to extend Trump’s tax cuts and deliver relief to middle-class families.

“Savings like these allow us to use this bill to renew the Trump tax cuts and keep Republicans’ promise to hardworking middle-class families,” Guthrie said.

Among the proposed changes are common-sense “community engagement” requirements for able-bodied adults without dependents—at least 80 hours per month of work, education, or service. The bill also requires Medicaid recipients to verify eligibility twice a year instead of once, ensuring only those who qualify receive benefits.

Despite the logic behind these reforms, Democrats immediately lashed out. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ), the top Democrat on the Energy and Commerce Committee, warned that “millions of Americans will lose their health care coverage” if the bill passes. He went on to claim hospitals will close, seniors will suffer, and premiums will rise.

But these doom-and-gloom warnings directly contradict what Democrat leaders used to say. In fact, many of the very Democrats now opposing Trump’s reforms spent years sounding the alarm over waste and fraud in Medicaid.

In 2010, then-Senator Chuck Schumer asked how to “wring that waste out, that fraud, abuse, duplication,” and even joked about inflated hospital billing practices. Just two years later, Schumer floated the idea of working with Republicans to reform Medicare and Medicaid in a “grand bargain.”

Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) once admitted that Medicaid reform was a bipartisan idea, noting that even President Obama’s final budget included cuts aimed at cleaning up the system. That same year, Vice President Joe Biden called provider tax schemes used by states to inflate reimbursements a “scam,” saying the federal government could save $40 billion by ending them.

Those concerns weren’t wrong. A joint study from the Paragon Health Institute and the Economic Policy Innovation Center (EPIC) found that over the last decade, the federal government made roughly $1.1 trillion in improper Medicaid payments. In the two years when full audits were conducted, improper payment rates topped 25 percent.

One particularly egregious loophole involves hospitals enrolling patients into Medicaid based on minimal information, often with no follow-up. In 2018, 70 percent of hospital-enrolled applicants were eventually deemed ineligible or never verified.

Republicans argue that enough is enough. “On Medicare and Medicaid, the president has said we’re not going to touch those programs from a beneficiary standpoint,” said Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA). “But what he’s never said is we’re not willing to touch those programs from a fraud standpoint.”

The GOP plan targets the fraud—not the beneficiaries—and Democrats know it. What they won’t admit is that they’re more afraid of losing political ground than protecting the integrity of Medicaid. For decades, they demanded reform. Now that Republicans are delivering it, they’re running for cover.

With Medicaid corruption laid bare and billions in taxpayer dollars wasted, Republicans are stepping up with a real solution. Democrats, meanwhile, have traded their past warnings for partisan talking points—and voters are beginning to notice. If saving $1.1 trillion is “shameful,” the question isn’t what Republicans are doing. It’s what Democrats are trying to hide.