Democrats in Annapolis say Congress’s “Big Beautiful Bill” (BBB) will rip food from children’s mouths and health care from seniors’ bedsides. They warn that 150,000 Marylanders could be kicked off Medicaid and claim that “federal cuts” will starve our state budget. Those numbers are frightening, but they’re also wrong.
Here is the unvarnished truth: The reconciliation bill, which reforms these two ballooning programs, does not mandate that a single Marylander lose benefits. But it does return sanity to two programs that have grown far beyond their original purpose: Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The bill redraws the federal-state partnership so that Washington funds only what federal law intends, while giving states the tools and responsibility to run the extras they prefer. Every “cut” you have heard about is, in fact, a policy choice that Maryland’s elected officials will still control.
Under today’s rules, Maryland receives 100% federal funding for SNAP benefits and a 50% match on administrative costs. The reconciliation bill introduces two guardrails:
State cost-sharing when error rates are high
When Maryland’s payment error rate hits double digits (it was 18.98% in FY 2023), taxpayers nationwide foot the bill. The bill says: If paperwork mistakes exceed 6%, the state will cover up to 15% of benefit costs until it cleans up the errors. That’s an accountability measure, not a benefit cut.
Adjusted work expectations for able-bodied adults
If you are 19 to 64, not disabled, and have no dependent child under 14, you will be asked to work, train or volunteer 80 hours per month. Those who truly cannot work are still exempt; those who choose not to work may see benefits reduced — but only by their own decision.
Work requirements for SNAP are not new. The BBB simply updates them to reflect today’s realities — raising the age cap to align with modern retirement norms and narrowing caregiver exemptions using common sense.
The 2010 Affordable Care Act created a new Medicaid “expansion” population — able-bodied adults up to 138% of the federal poverty line. The federal government pays 90% of their cost. Since 2014, Maryland has enrolled roughly 400,000 such adults, one-quarter of our Medicaid rolls.
The reconciliation bill keeps the 90% match but adds three accountability levers:
Community engagement: Beginning in 2027, expansion adults must document 80 hours of work, training or community service each month, with generous exemptions for pregnancy, disability and caregiving, mirroring SNAP requirements. States may continue covering non-compliant individuals, but only with 100% state dollars.
Semiannual eligibility checks: Maryland will verify income twice a year instead of once. That means fewer ineligible people continuing on outdated paperwork, saving money for the truly needy.
Cost-sharing flexibility: One aspect of the BBB is the option for states to charge small premiums or copays to expansion adults — just as CHIP and private plans have done for decades. If we decide copays are too onerous, we can skip them; if we want to keep everyone enrolled, we can pay every penny ourselves. Again, Maryland decides.
There are other Medicaid reforms that ensure taxpayer-funded benefits are reserved for legal residents and citizens. One example is Maryland’s “Healthy Babies” program, which currently covers the full cost of prenatal, postnatal and even dental care for approximately 7,000 non-citizens each year. Under the reforms in the reconciliation bill, federal Medicaid dollars can no longer be used to support this coverage. If the state wishes to maintain this coverage, it must do so through a fully state-funded program.
Opponents argue Maryland will be “forced” to cut services. That is misleading. The bill simply restores a principle most families live by: You budget for what you value, and you do not send bills to relatives who never agreed to pay them. If Maryland deems every current beneficiary indispensable, it can maintain every benefit with state dollars, local dollars, private donations or a reprioritized budget. The question is whether we value unlimited enrollment more than better schools, safer streets or tax relief for working families.
If thousands of Marylanders lose SNAP or Medicaid next year, it will not be because Congress cut them off. It will be because leaders in Annapolis refused to take up the tools offered to keep them covered, like premiums, cost-sharing, waiver flexibility or targeted state funding. The only mandatory cuts are those Maryland Democrats choose to make.
Accountability is not cruelty. It is the first duty of every steward of public money, and it is, at least for these two programs, precisely what the “Big Beautiful Bill” restores.
Dels. Lauren Arikan, Brian Chisholm, Mark N. Fisher, Robin Grammer, Matt Morgan, Ryan Nawrocki and Kathy Szeliga are Republicans in the Maryland House of Delegates who make up the Maryland Freedom Caucus.
