Health

Reagan Invoked the ‘Welfare Queen.’ The New G.O.P. Target Is a Lazy Gamer.

Published

9 months ago

June 10, 2025

Reagan Invoked the ‘Welfare Queen.’ The New G.O.P. Target Is a Lazy Gamer.

Ronald Reagan and his fellow Republicans once invoked what they referred to as “welfare queens” as they made the case for reining in social spending in the 1970s and 1980s, painting a picture of unscrupulous women bilking the system to finance a sumptuous lifestyle.

Now as they try to justify cuts to Medicaid, congressional Republicans are focused on a different deadbeat poster child: the shiftless male video gamer who lazes around the house attached to his console while getting free health care that should go to more deserving people.

The imagery has changed, but the political tactic from the G.O.P. remains the same. By making broad generalizations about the types of people who could inappropriately benefit from federal benefits, they make the idea of cutting back seem virtuous rather than stingy.

With a new, restrictive work requirement for Medicaid and other cost-cutting measures emerging as main points of contention in the political debate over their sweeping domestic policy bill, Republicans have sought to play down the potential fallout for Americans who rely on the health care program for the poor. They say no one who truly merits help will lose benefits.

To bolster their case, they assert that ridding the Medicaid rolls of slackers and undocumented immigrants who should not be getting taxpayer help will shave off billions of dollars without touching benefits for those in need. Their message is that the necessary savings can be achieved by going after the old standbys of waste, fraud and abuse.

“You don’t want able-bodied workers on a program that is intended, for example, for single mothers with two small children who is just trying to make it,” Speaker Mike Johnson said on CNN in February as he began laying the groundwork for the Medicaid cuts. “That’s what Medicaid is for, not for 29-year-old males sitting on their couches playing video games.”

Representative Lauren Boebert, Republican of Colorado, piled on to the perceived couch potato community.

“If you are able to work in America, well then you should not be sitting at home playing video games and collecting a check,” she said last month after meeting with President Trump and hearing his pitch for the legislation.

Other Republicans, Democrats and data analysts say that most Medicaid beneficiaries are already working. They note that even if a glut of loafing gamers did exist, cutting them off from government-provided insurance won’t save much money, since they don’t use much health care.

“They’re not on Medicaid because they are malingerers,” Senator Josh Hawley, Republican of Missouri, said about his 1.3 million constituents currently on Medicaid. “They are on Medicaid because they can’t afford private health insurance.”

But Republican proponents of cuts say their argument was underscored by a recent analysis from the American Enterprise Institute. Applying the American Time Use Survey and the Current Population Survey, the report estimated that able-bodied Medicaid recipients who don’t work spent about 4.2 hours a day watching television or playing video games, their second most common activity after sleeping. Working Medicaid recipients, it said, spent about 2.7 hours watching TV or gaming.

The speaker’s office said the findings substantiated Mr. Johnson’s point that some beneficiaries were gaming the system as they gamed at home.

“The next time a Democrat makes false claims about ‘Medicaid cuts,’ just remember that what they’re really saying is they want illegal aliens and able-bodied adults playing video games at home to continue stealing resources from those who need it,” the speaker’s office said in a news release.

Yet a new analysis from the Brookings Institution questioned the potential impact of the new House-approved work rule, which would require childless adults without physical limitations to show they had worked, volunteered or gone to school for at least 80 hours in the month before enrolling in Medicaid.

Even if the new requirements now under review in the Senate did catch some idle gamers, the savings might not prove to be that great, the analysis said. The 4.3 million people the study said were on Medicaid with no limits on activity recorded the lowest average Medicaid spending, while 40 percent did not use medical services at all. The authors said their data showed that just 300,000 beneficiaries reported that they didn’t work simply because they didn’t want a job.

“Speaker Johnson’s archetypal young men who hang out in basements playing video games are not as common as he may imagine, and just don’t use a lot of health care services,” said the Brookings report, written by Sherry Glied and Dong Ding. “Disenrolling this group would generate only modest federal savings, far less than needed to offset a significant share of the bill’s tax cuts,” they added.

Democrats say Republicans are well aware that millions of Medicaid beneficiaries are not whiling away the hours at home playing video games while they eagerly take advantage of a program where eligibility is tied to low income. They say Republicans are misrepresenting the situation in pursuit of savings to offset tax cuts in their legislation.

“They are just desperate for money and they know there’s a lot of money to be saved by pulling people off welfare,” said Senator Brian Schatz, Democrat of Hawaii. “And so they have to imagine an unworthy person.”

Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, said Republicans wanted to justify their Medicaid cuts by stigmatizing “health care as a handout, when it should be something that enables the whole society to be more productive.”

“I think we are descending into the old ‘welfare queen’ demagoguery, and I think it is a disservice,” he said.

When Reagan ran for president in 1976, he peppered campaign speeches with the anecdote of a Chicago woman who had found a way to bilk the welfare system through the use of aliases and other fraud. The claim that the system was rife with corruption was meant to stir anger and resentment among voters who worked for a living.

Though suggestions of widespread cases of people living a luxurious lifestyle on welfare were debunked from the start, the impression has persisted for decades and surfaces in political and policy fights from time to time. When Congress enhanced unemployment benefits during the Covid pandemic, conservatives balked, saying the extra pay would keep those already disinclined to work at home.

Mr. Johnson and others have accused able-bodied unemployed Americans of “cheating” by receiving Medicaid coverage when they could work, even though the expansion of Medicaid in many states under the Affordable Care Act has made it permissible to obtain coverage without working as long as low-income guidelines are met.

“If you are able to work and you refuse to do so, you are defrauding the system,” Mr. Johnson said in late May on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” He said that there was a “moral component” to the Republican push to impose work requirements on Medicaid recipients and that it would provide dignity to those pushed into the work force.

The Brookings analysis said that many of those who don’t hold a job would probably be exempt from new requirements because of reasons such as caring for a family member or other factors. It predicted that the effort would produce unintended consequences such as discouraging those who need Medicaid from qualifying for help because of new paperwork requirements.

“Prior efforts to surgically separate the meritoriously enrolled from the slackers have proved both ineffective and very administratively costly,” the report said. “Medicaid work requirements just don’t work in the way their proponents promise they do.”

Robert Jimison contributed reporting.

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Health

Melissa Joan Hart, 49, Opens up About Weight Loss in Perimenopause

Published

8 hours ago

March 3, 2026

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Melissa Joan Hart, 49, Opens up About Weight Loss in Perimenopause

Melissa Joan Hart Opens up About Weight Loss in Perimenopause | Woman’s World

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Health

Alzheimer’s prevention breakthrough found in decades-old seizure drug

Published

9 hours ago

March 3, 2026

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Alzheimer’s prevention breakthrough found in decades-old seizure drug

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A drug that has long been used to treat seizures has shown promise as a potential means of Alzheimer’s prevention, a new study suggests.

The anti-seizure medication, levetiracetam, was first approved by the FDA in November 1999 under the brand name Keppra as a therapy for partial-onset seizures in adults. The approval has since expanded to include children and other types of seizures.

Northwestern University researchers recently found that levetiracetam prevented the formation of toxic amyloid beta peptides, which are small protein fragments in the brain that are commonly seen in Alzheimer’s patients.

The medication was found to prevent the formation of amyloid-beta 42 in both animal models and cultured human neurons, according to the study findings, which were published in Science Translational Medicine.

The effect was also seen in post-mortem human brain tissue obtained from individuals with Down syndrome, who are at high risk for Alzheimer’s disease.

The medication was found to prevent the formation of amyloid-beta 42 in both animal models and cultured human neurons. (iStock)

“While many of the Alzheimer’s drugs currently on the market, such as lecanemab and donanemab, are approved to clear existing amyloid plaques, we’ve identified this mechanism that prevents the production of the amyloid‑beta 42 peptides and amyloid plaques,” said corresponding author Jeffrey Savas, associate professor of behavioral neurology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, in a press release.

“Our new results uncovered new biology while also opening doors for new drug targets.”

HIDDEN BRAIN CONDITION MAY QUADRUPLE DEMENTIA RISK IN OLDER ADULTS, STUDY SUGGESTS

The brain is better able to avoid the pathway that produces toxic amyloid‑beta 42 proteins in younger years, but the aging process gradually weakens that ability, Savas noted.

“This is not a statement of disease; this is just a part of aging. But in brains developing Alzheimer’s, too many neurons go astray, and that’s when you get amyloid-beta 42 production,” he said.

The effect was also seen in post-mortem human brain tissue obtained from individuals with Down syndrome, who are at high risk for Alzheimer’s disease. (iStock)

That then leads to tau (“tangles”) — abnormal clumps of protein inside brain neurons — which can kill brain cells, trigger neuroinflammation and lead to dementia.

In order for levetiracetam to function as an Alzheimer’s blocker, high-risk patients would have to start taking it “very, very early,” Savas said — up to 20 years before elevated amyloid-beta 42 levels would be detected.

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“You couldn’t take this when you already have dementia, because the brain has already undergone a number of irreversible changes and a lot of cell death,” the researcher noted.

The researchers also did a deep dive into previous human clinical data to determine whether Alzheimer’s patients who were taking the anti-seizure drug had slower cognitive decline. They reported that the patients in that category had a “significant delay” in the span from cognitive decline to death compared to those not taking the drug.

“This analysis supports the positive effect of levetiracetam to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s pathology,” the researcher said. (iStock)

“Although the magnitude of change was small (on the scale of a few years), this analysis supports the positive effect of levetiracetam to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s pathology,” Savas said.

Looking ahead, the research team aims to find people who have genetic forms of Alzheimer’s to participate in testing, Savas said.

Limitations and caveats

The study had several limitations, including that it relied on animal models and cultured cells, with no human trials conducted.

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Because the study was observational in nature, it can’t prove that the medication caused the prevention of the toxic brain proteins, the researchers acknowledged.

Savas noted that levetiracetam “is not perfect,” cautioning that it breaks down in the body very quickly.

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The team is currently working to create a “better version” that would last longer in the body and “better target the mechanism that prevents the production of the plaques.”

“You couldn’t take this when you already have dementia, because the brain has already undergone a number of irreversible changes and a lot of cell death.”

The medication’s common documented side effects include drowsiness, weakness, dizziness, irritability, headache, loss of appetite and nasal congestion.

It has also been linked to potential mood and behavior changes, including anxiety, depression, agitation and aggression, according to the prescribing information. In rare cases, it could lead to severe allergic reactions, skin reactions, blood disorders and suicidal ideation.

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Funding for the study was provided by the National Institutes of Health and the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund.

Fox News Digital reached out to the drug manufacturer and the researchers for comment.

Melissa Rudy is senior health editor and a member of the lifestyle team at Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to melissa.rudy@fox.com.

Health

Seniors over 80 who eat specific diet may be less likely to reach 100 years old

Published

21 hours ago

March 3, 2026

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Seniors over 80 who eat specific diet may be less likely to reach 100 years old

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Older adults who avoid meat in their golden years may be less likely to reach age 100 than their meat-eating counterparts, new research suggests.

Researchers tracked more than 5,000 adults aged 80 or older who were enrolled in the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey.

Between 1998 and 2018, data showed that those who did not eat meat were less likely to reach their 100th birthday than those who consumed animal products regularly.

The findings seem to contradict previous studies that have linked vegetarianism and plant-based diets to lower risks of heart disease, stroke, diabetes and obesity.

Most evidence supporting the benefits of plant-based diets comes from studies tracking younger populations, the researchers noted.

The findings contrast with previous research praising plant-based diets for their positive influence on heart health. (iStock)

The study, published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, points to losses in muscle mass and bone density with age, shifts that can increase the risk of malnutrition and frailty in the “oldest old.”

As people enter their 80s and 90s, the nutritional priority often shifts from preventing long-term chronic diseases to maintaining day-to-day physical function, experts say.

HOW MUCH RED MEAT IS TOO MUCH? EXPERTS WEIGH IN ON FOOD PYRAMID UPDATES

“The headline ‘vegetarians over 80 less likely to reach 100’ sounds surprising, because it contrasts with decades of data linking plant‑forward diets to lower chronic disease risk earlier in life,” Erin Palinski-Wade, a New Jersey-based registered dietitian, told Fox News Digital.

“However, once you see that this research is limited to adults over the age of 80 who are also underweight — and that this link disappears with the consumption of eggs, dairy and fish — the results are less surprising.”

While diets earlier in life tend to emphasize avoiding long-term disease, older age necessitates nutrients and weight maintenance, experts say. (iStock)

In those over 80, restricting animal proteins may be less likely to promote longevity, according to Palinski-Wade, who was not involved in the study.

Eliminating all animal protein — particularly in a population that may already experience diminished hunger cues — can make it more difficult to meet adequate protein needs, potentially increasing the risk of nutrient deficiencies, the nutritionist said.

ALZHEIMER’S SYMPTOMS COULD BE PREDICTED YEARS IN ADVANCE THROUGH ONE SIMPLE TEST

In addition to a higher tendency to be underweight, older populations also face a greater risk of bone fractures due to lower calcium and protein intake.

Potential limitations

The lower rate of vegetarians reaching 100 was only observed in participants identified as underweight, the researchers noted. No such association was found in people who maintained a healthy weight.

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Because being underweight is already linked to greater frailty and mortality risk, the researchers noted that body weight may partly explain the findings, making it difficult to determine whether diet itself played a direct role.

Those incorporating animal-sourced products other than meat were just as likely to live to 100. (iStock)

Additionally, the shortened lifespans were not found in people who continued to eat non-meat animal products, such as fish, dairy and eggs.

Older adults with these more flexible diets were just as likely to live to 100 as those eating meat, as these foods may provide the nutrients necessary for maintaining muscle and bone health, the researchers noted.

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“This is an observational study, so it can only show associations, and does not prove that avoiding meat directly reduces the odds of reaching 100,” Palinski-Wade added.

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The researchers suggested that including small amounts of animal-sourced foods could help older seniors maintain essential nutrients and avoid the muscle loss often seen in those who stick strictly to plants.

Palinski-Wade offered some guidance for those looking to optimize nutrition later in life.

“For adults in their 80s and beyond, especially anyone losing weight or muscle, the priority should be maintaining a healthy weight and meeting protein and micronutrient needs — even if that means adding or increasing fish, eggs, dairy or well‑planned, fortified plant proteins and supplements.”

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Strict vegan or very low‑protein patterns at that age should be carefully monitored by a dietitian or clinician, with attention to B12, vitamin D, calcium and total protein, according to Palinski-Wade.

“Younger and healthier adults can still confidently use plant‑forward or vegetarian patterns to lower long‑term chronic disease risk,” she added.

Khloe Quill is a lifestyle production assistant with Fox News Digital. She and the lifestyle team cover a range of story topics including food and drink, travel, and health.