Medicaid recipients without disabilities spend their time playing video games, watching TV: study

WASHINGTON — Non-disabled Americans on Medicaid spend most of their waking hours either playing video games or watching TV, according to a new study touted by congressional Republicans who want to reform the 60-year-old federal benefit.The American Enterprise Institute found in a survey put out last week that Medicaid recipients ages 19-64 who are capable of working and don’t have kids spend an average of 4.2 hours per day — or 126 hours every 30 days — just vegging out.That’s a little more than 1.5 times the 80 hours per month that those Americans will be asked to work, do community service or attend school starting in 2027 to keep getting their benefits, according to a provision in the “One Big Beautiful Bill” Act that House Republicans passed last month.Non-disabled beneficiaries also dedicate an average of four hours per day to doing housework and running errands — but just 28 minutes to caring for other people and 22 minutes to looking for a job.Notably, the study shared by House Speaker Mike Johnson’s office Tuesday also points out, those who work at least four hours every day while receiving Medicaid benefits spend another 2.7 hours watching TV and playing video games.“You don’t want able-bodied workers on a program that is intended, for example, for single mothers with two small children who’s just trying to make it,” Johnson (R-La.) told CNN’s Katilin Collins in a February interview.“That’s who Medicaid is for — not for 29-year-old males sitting on their couches playing video games.We’re gonna find those guys and we’re gonna send ’em back to work.”The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that the Medicaid work requirements and other health care tweaks could save the federal government up to $723 billion over the next 10 years.Congressional Democrats have in turn attacked the GOP by pointing to CBO projections that the bill will kick up to 7.6 million people off of Medicaid.The changes were some of the last m...