Think the Medicaid cuts don't affect you? Think again.

It's Been a Minute

NPR

News Commentary, Society & Culture, News, Spirituality, Religion & Spirituality

4.6 • 8.8K Ratings

🗓️ 4 July 2025

⏱️ 16 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Republicans have passed President Trump's One Big, Beautiful bill, but is it built on bad faith stereotypes?

The legislation guts funding for Medicaid, and for a long time Republicans have been attacking the program as sort of welfare for moochers. Who exactly are these moochers? And could it be you?

Brittany is joined by Joan Alker, Executive Director and Co-Founder of the Georgetown Center for Children and Families, and Jamila Michener, professor and author of Fragmented Democracy: Medicaid, Federalism and Unequal Politics to understand how stereotypes about who deserves health insurance affect us all.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Support for NPR and the following message comes from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
0:05.4	RWJF is a national philanthropy, working toward a future where health is no longer a privilege but a right.
0:12.1	Learn more at RWJF.org.
0:17.9	Hello, hello. I'm Brittany Luce and you're listening to It's Been a Minute from NPR,
0:23.1	a show about what's going on in culture and why it doesn't happen by accident.
0:34.7	29-year-old males sitting on their couches playing video games.
0:37.9	We're going to find those guys and we're going to send them back to work.
0:42.9	This week, we're connecting the dots between the doctor's office, a welfare check, and your mom's couch.
0:50.2	I know, I know, how are all of these things connected?
0:53.7	We're going to find out with Joan Alker, executive director and co-founder of the Georgetown Center for Children and Families, and Jamila Michner, professor and author of fragmented democracy, Medicaid, federalism, and unequal politics.
1:06.9	Jamila, Joan, welcome to it's been a minute.
1:08.7	Happy to be here.
1:09.5	Hello.
1:10.2	Thank you for joining me today to talk about something that affects all Americans, whether they know it or not.
1:16.9	All week long, the House and Senate negotiated a huge spending and tax bill, one that includes
1:22.4	deep cuts to Medicaid, the program that provides insurance to about 83 million low-income people in the United States.
1:29.3	The bill passed on Thursday.
1:31.3	Now, there are critiques of Medicaid that it's hard to navigate, and many people feel like they have to jump through all kinds of hoops just to stay covered.
1:39.3	But why would a program that insures one in five Americans and nearly half of the nation's children end up on the chopping block in the first place?
1:48.6	How did we get here?
1:52.5	Jamila, of all the things to possibly cut, why Medicaid?
1:56.8	Like, what made it a desirable target?
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.