A left-wing advocacy group is attempting to sway voters with fear-based messaging claiming Republicans gutted Medicaid for disabled families ahead of the midterms.
The dark money group Unrig Our Economy has launched a bevy of misleading advertising in recent months, implying Republicans’ Medicaid reforms will strip disabled families of healthcare coverage despite the law not cutting benefits for vulnerable populations. Though the Democratic group is careful to avoid making direct claims that could be easily disproved, the ads feature disabled families delivering emotional messages that Republicans cut Medicaid, inviting viewers to assume that care for the most vulnerable Americans is at risk.
“It’s no surprise that opponents of the Big Beautiful Bill are continuing to engage in misinformation and mistruths — because that’s all they have,” Hayden Dublois, data and analytics director for the Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA), told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “The desperate attempts of radical groups to falsely claim that somehow disabled Americans, children, or seniors will be harmed by commonsense Medicaid reform are appalling.”
Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Act, signed into law by the president in July, projects over $1 trillion in savings throughMedicaid reforms primarily aimed at addressing waste and abuse in the system. Contrary to Democrats’ claims, the law’s changes to Medicaid exclude individuals with disabilities.
Unrig Our Economy is fiscally sponsored by the Sixteen Thirty Fund, a major left-leaning nonprofit that funnels hundreds of millions of hard-to-track dollars into left-of-center political organizations and advocacy groups. The Sixteen Thirty Fund has contributed nearly $8 million to Unrig Our Economy for “capacity building” between 2022 and 2023, according to a DCNF review of the organization’s tax filings.
The left-wing outside spending group has deployed a series of attack ads targeting Republicans in swing districtsDemocrats hope to flip in 2026.
The spots feature a common template: a constituent says they or their family rely on Medicaid due to a disability. The individual then claims that Republicans cut Medicaid, prompting viewers to jump to the conclusion that disabled Americans are at risk of losing coverage.
One ad launched earlier this week targeting Republican Arizona Rep. Juan Ciscomani features several of his constituents who are enrolled in Medicaid discussing their disabilities before criticizing him for voting for “massive cuts” to the entitlement program.
“Congressman Juan Ciscomani, my health care is more important than tax breaks for billionaires,” a constituent with cerebral palsy says in the 30-second spot.
Other ads run against Republican Reps. Tom Kean Jr. of New Jersey and Mike Lawler of New York also depict parents who have children with disabilities, implying that the lawmakers’ votes for the GOP budget law would eliminate their family’s access to Medicaid.
“Unrig Our Economy is connecting dots that don’t exist; exploiting real family struggles to sell a false narrative,” National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) spokeswoman Emily Tuttle said in a statement. “It’s a cruel and gross attempt to scare voters.”
The DCNF previously reported that an individual presented by Unrig Our Economy as a constituent in a spot targeting Republican Pennsylvania Rep. Rob Bresnahan is a left-wing activist. The woman had previously campaigned for Bresnahan’s Democratic opponent and spoken at a “No Kings” rally headlined by former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Unrig Our Economy did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
Accusing Republicans of trying to “gut the healthcare of everyday Americans” has become a midterms rallying cry for Democrats, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
Democrats are tying their support for reopening the federal government to reversing the reconciliation bill’s Medicaid provisions — including those affecting healthcare spending for illegal immigrants — and extending the pandemic-eraexpansions of Obamacare premium subsidies, which are projected to cost $350 billion over the next decade.
“None of this is shocking from the same groups that want to shut down the government in order to advance funding legislation that would push more illegal aliens on Medicaid, repeal the historic $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Fund, and open the floodgates to waste, fraud, and abuse,” Dublois told the DCNF.
“Americans see this pandering for what it is: yet another attempt by the President’s radical opponents to undermine a more resilient Medicaid program,” he added.
Republicans argue they can win the Medicaid debate by highlighting popular reforms — and thwart what they describe as Democrats’ most deceptive attack lines.
The largest source of the law’s Medicaid savings comes from new work requirements that apply only to able-bodied adults without children age 13 or younger who are enrolled in Obamacare’s expansion. Beginning in 2027, states will be required to ensure that these recipients complete at least 80 hours per month of work, volunteering, education or job training, along with more frequent eligibility checks.
Data from state Medicaid agencies obtained by the FGA show that 62% of non-elderly, able-bodied adult Medicaid recipients did not work. Additionally, a May report from the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) found that non-working recipients spend an average of 4.2 hours per day — or roughly 125 hours per month — on TV and video games, well above the 80-hour monthly work requirement.
“Here’s the truth: the most vulnerable Americans will benefit from these reforms as scarce Medicaid dollars will be preserved for the truly needy instead of for illegal aliens, fraudsters, and able-bodied adults who can work but refuse to,” Dublois said.
House Republicans’ campaign arm has previously found success in forcing Democratic groups to remove or modify advertising using deceptive talking points that made direct claims about GOP lawmakers cutting Medicaid benefits.
The NRCC successfully pressured the Environmental Defense Fund Action to change the language in ads targeting three House Republicans for supporting GOP Medicaid reforms, Notus first reported.
Billboards commissioned by the outside spending group House Majority Forward were also taken down after the NRCC sent a cease-and-desist letter to vendors for running advertisements accusing Republicans of cutting Medicaid in March.
Meanwhile, Republicans argue that Democrats’ decision to keep the federal government closed, leaving thousands of federal workers without pay and Americans’ access to certain government programs temporarily frozen, will ultimately damage their standing with voters.
“Democrats are holding the country hostage over their obsession with providing taxpayer-funded healthcare to illegal immigrants while refusing to confront the tens of billions lost to fraud, waste, and abuse,” Republican strategist Chris Pack told the DCNF.
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