RFK Jr. draws backlash for ripping Medicaid programs that pay people to care for relatives

U.S. newsRFK Jr. draws backlash for ripping Medicaid programs that pay people to care for relativesAdvocates for disabled people and those who care for them said they were insulted by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s allegations that the programs are "rife with fraud."Listen to this article with a free account00:0000:00Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. criticized Medicaid home care during a House Ways and Means Committee hearing on Capitol Hill on April 16.Heather Diehl / Getty ImagesShareAdd NBC News to GoogleApril 23, 2026, 11:41 AM EDTBy Mike HixenbaughHealth and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sparked outrage among disability rights advocates with recent comments alleging widespread fraud in Medicaid programs that pay people to care for elderly or disabled family members — a system millions of Americans rely on to survive.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.During testimony before the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee last week, Kennedy criticized Medicaid-funded programs that pay relatives to serve as caregivers, alleging they compensate people for tasks they “used to do as family members for free.” That includes paying them “for balancing the checkbook, for picking up the groceries, for driving somebody to a doctor’s appointment,” he said.“And this is rife with fraud,” Kennedy said, because the federal government has no way “to determine if they actually performed that duty or not.”Video of the remarks quickly spread across social media, drawing a wave of angry responses from caregivers and disability rights advocates who said Kennedy trivialized the reality of caring for medically complex loved ones while conflating legitimate caregiving with illegal activity.“That’s insulting,” said Kim Musheno, senior director of Medicaid policy at The Arc of the United States, a national disability rights organization. “It’s insulting to the families,...