The Trump administration is introducing Medicaid work requirements for people with disabilities
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The Trump administration launched a major campaign to reduce government waste and abuse, targeting the billions of tax dollars spent on health care for illegal immigrants while implementing new work requirements for wealthy Americans through Medicaid.
During a press conference at the White House on Tuesday afternoon, the director of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Dr. Oz outlined an aggressive strategy to stop “legal money laundering” which he warned would cost the system an extra $5.4 trillion over the next decade.
Oz revealed that the administration has diverted nearly $2 billion in federal tax dollars improperly to illegal immigrants, a figure that has doubled since he reported on the issue last year.
Dr. Mehmet Oz, director of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, during a news conference in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC, US on Tuesday, June 2, 2026. (Aaron Schwartz/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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He went straight to California, noting that CMS has told the state it owes the federal government $2 billion — half of which has been successfully repaid.
“Just to put it in context, in California, if you’re on Medi-Cal, the Medicaid program in California, until this administration, you get full dental benefits and full vision,” Oz said. “Now, I stand for those benefits, I love them, but we don’t give them to Medicare patients. So we have to at least be equal, and we all together have to decide what we’re going to do as a nation.”
“The people who pay that bill, where … the largesse of California allows people to get benefits that the rest of the country doesn’t think they deserve for illegal immigrants …, are paid by taxpayers in New Mexico – which is a blue state – and Mississippi, which is a red state,” he continued.
Dr. Mehmet Oz, director of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, discussed many health care topics during a news conference with reporters on Tuesday, June 2, 2026. (Aaron Schwartz/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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In addition to reducing illegal immigration fees, the administration overhauled Medicaid by establishing work requirements.
The new law will mandate that potential recipients must work 20 hours a week, volunteer or receive education in order to receive free health care.
“If you’re sitting at home, which is true for millions of people who qualify for Medicaid, on average, you spend 6.1 hours watching television just hanging out,” Oz said.
He described the new requirements as “a path to success,” saying they return Medicaid to its original 1965 purpose.
Dr. Mehmet Oz, director of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, takes questions from members of the media during a news conference at the White House in Washington, DC, US on Tuesday, June 2, 2026. (Aaron Schwartz/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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Oz argued that anyone who receives value from the American people should be responsible for participating in society if they are physically able.
“If you can work, you should get up and work,” Oz said. “… If we put guards on these programs, we will allow them to thrive. I’m here because I love Medicaid. The president has already said that he loves and values Medicaid and Medicare. … We will not let these programs become a mess that they cannot end. If we love these programs, we will make tough decisions.”
