Health
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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The Trump administration is taking another look at ending biannual clock changes, with an eye toward making daylight saving time (DST), or the “summer clock,” permanent.
On May 21, the House Energy and Commerce Committee advanced legislation that would make daylight saving time permanent in a 48-1 vote, part of a largely bipartisan push to end twice-yearly clock changes.
Although gaining extra winter evening daylight might seem like a win, health experts say permanent daylight saving time could disrupt people’s natural circadian rhythms.
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In an interview with Fox News Digital, Dr. Wendy Troxel, a licensed clinical psychologist and senior behavioral scientist at RAND based in Utah, said science is being “misconstrued” in this decision.
“Ending the biannual clock change is something most sleep scientists and the public would welcome,” she said. “The disruption of springing forward every March is associated with real, measurable harm — spikes in car crashes, heart attacks and sleep deprivation.”
The Trump administration is taking another look at ending semiannual clock changes, with an eye toward making daylight saving time, or the “summer clock,” permanent. (iStock)
However, Troxel noted, implementing permanent daylight saving time is “not supported by science.” Instead, evidence “strongly supports” permanent standard time, or the “winter clock,” according to the expert.
Major sleep medicine organizations, including the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, have previously supported adopting permanent standard time over permanent daylight saving time.
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“Standard time is more closely aligned with human circadian biology, meaning the relationship between light, darkness and our internal clocks remains intact,” Troxel said.
“Permanent DST simply shifts an hour of morning sunlight to the evening, and there are significant health and safety costs of that trade.”
“Standard time is more closely aligned with human circadian biology,” the expert said. (iStock)
The U.S. attempted permanent DST in the early 1970s, but the plan was aborted in part due to these “morning consequences,” according to the sleep expert.
“Within a year, the law was repealed amid public displeasure with commuting to work and school in the dark and increases in morning car crashes, and with no demonstrable impact on energy savings,” Troxel told Fox News Digital.
Why morning sunlight matters
Human circadian rhythms are primarily “anchored” by morning light, Troxel said. Under permanent DST, most people waking up for work or school would be rising before the sun, which forces a “chronic misalignment between the body’s internal clock and the external world.”
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“You cannot override that biology by simply shifting external clocks forward,” the expert said. “What you get instead is a population that is effectively waking up in the middle of their biological night, every single day.”
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The public has typically supported having more daylight in winter evenings, which could alleviate mental health conditions such as seasonal depression.
Supporters of permanent daylight saving time argue that later evening daylight could encourage outdoor activity, recreation and consumer spending after work or school.
Morning light is “crucial to regulate sleep, [boost] alertness and support mental health,” according to a sleep expert. (iStock)
Troxel agreed that light is a “powerful regulator” for sleep and moods, but noted that not all types have the same benefits.
“Morning light is crucial to regulate sleep, alertness and support mental health, and this would be sacrificed with permanent daylight saving time,” she noted.
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In some areas of the country, like Utah, Americans wouldn’t see the sunrise until about 9 a.m. in the winter, which some research has linked to higher rates of depression and seasonal mood challenges.
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“More evening light may feel enjoyable, in part because we equate it with lovely summer evenings, but permanent daylight saving time does not mean permanent summer,” Troxel emphasized. “It just means we will get less morning sunlight and more evening sunlight.”
“Exposure to light in the evening further pushes circadian rhythms later, making it more difficult to fall asleep and harder to wake up in the morning.”
Risks for vulnerable groups
Permanent daylight saving time can intensify people’s habit of “bedtime procrastination,” deepen sleep deprivation and contribute to the widespread public health issue of insufficient sleep already identified by the Institute of Medicine, according to Troxel.
Teens are most at risk of mental health complications if permanent DST extends darkness in the morning. (iStock)
Various studies have shown that people typically sleep less in summer compared to winter. Troxel said this is particularly concerning in a society where one in three people are already getting insufficient shuteye.
“This is especially alarming for teenagers, a population the U.S. surgeon general has identified as being in a mental health crisis,” she cautioned.
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For example, a teen waking up at 6:30 a.m. for an 8 a.m. school start time under permanent DST would be rising biologically at 5:30 a.m., Troxel noted, which is “in the middle of their biological night.”
“Framing permanent DST as a fix for seasonal depression gets the science exactly backwards,” she added.
Fox News Digital’s Alex Nitzberg contributed to this report.
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People who quit smoking may reduce their risk of developing dementia later in life, according to new research.
A team of researchers at a university in China analyzed data from more than 32,000 adults over a 25-year period and found that former smokers had a lower risk of dementia compared to people who continued smoking.
The findings were published in the journal Neurology.
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During the study period, researchers documented 5,868 cases of dementia.
Participants who quit smoking during the study had a significantly lower risk of developing dementia than current smokers. Their risk was similar to people who had quit smoking before the study began and those who had never smoked.
New research suggests that quitting smoking may lower the chance of developing dementia later in life. (iStock)
The researchers also found that dementia risk continued to decline the longer a person remained smoke-free, approaching that of never-smokers after about seven years.
The benefits appeared strongest among people who gained little or no weight after quitting.
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“Our findings suggest that quitting smoking may support long-term brain health, but they also highlight that what happens after quitting matters,” lead researcher Hui Chen said in a statement.
The reduction in dementia risk was most pronounced among people who experienced little or no weight gain after they stopped smoking. (iStock)
Zaid Fadul, a Harvard-trained physician and chief medical officer of Bespoke Concierge MD who was not involved in the research, said the findings add to growing evidence that quitting smoking can help protect long-term brain health.
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“The key takeaway is that the brain appears to benefit from smoking cessation at virtually any stage,” Fadul told Fox News Digital.
“Smoking contributes to chronic inflammation, oxidative stress, and damage to blood vessels that supply the brain, all of which are associated with cognitive decline and dementia risk.”
Fadul said the findings should encourage smokers who may feel it is too late to quit.
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“Importantly, it is rarely ‘too late’ to quit,” he said.
“While earlier cessation offers the greatest benefit, the body and brain begin recovering soon after smoking stops.”
Experts say it is almost never too late to quit smoking, as the body and brain start to recover soon after a person stops, although quitting earlier provides the greatest health benefits. (iStock)
Improvements in circulation, reduced inflammation and better cardiovascular health can help preserve cognitive function later in life, according to Fadul.
“Every year without tobacco is a step toward lowering future dementia risk and improving overall health,” he said.
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While the findings were encouraging, the study does have limitations.
Researchers identified an association between quitting smoking and a lower risk of dementia, but the study was not designed to prove that ending smoking directly prevents the condition.
Other health, lifestyle and environmental factors may have also influenced participants’ outcomes.
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Fox News Digital reached out to the researchers for further comment.
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