On July 3, 2025, Bryan Steil, the House member for Wisconsin's 1st District, voted for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, whose Medicaid work requirement exempts adults with disabilities only if the state verifies their condition; Wisconsin's health department says about 200,000 BadgerCare adults will be subject to it from 2027. Earlier in 2025 Steil cast deciding votes for the budget plan that set a target of at least $880 billion in deficit reduction for the committee over Medicaid.
At an August 2025 town hall Steil defended the requirement for BadgerCare adults who are not reporting work or a disability, saying he wanted to "help lift them up and into work."
Bryan Steil's Votes and Statements on Medicaid and Wisconsinites With Disabilities
- Steil Voted for Medicaid Work Rules That Make Adults With Disabilities Prove They Are Exempt, in 2025. On July 3, 2025, Bryan Steil voted for final passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which passed 218 to 214, after casting one of the votes that passed the House version 215 to 214 in May. The law requires covered Medicaid adults to report 80 hours a month of work or other activity unless the state verifies an exemption, including for a person "with a physical, intellectual or developmental disability that significantly impairs their ability to perform 1 or more activities of daily living." The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services projects that under the requirement "enrollment would be reduced by 2.3 million individuals in FY 2027."
- Steil Cast Deciding Votes for the Budget Plan That Told the Committee Over Medicaid to Cut $880 Billion; Experts Expect the Law to Slow Home Care Expansion. On February 25, 2025, Steil voted for H.Con.Res. 14, the budget resolution, which passed 217 to 215, and on April 10, 2025 for its final version, which passed 216 to 214; on each, a switch of his vote alone would have produced a tie, and a tied resolution fails. It told the committee that writes Medicaid law to "reduce the deficit by not less than $880,000,000,000" over ten years. Home and community-based services, the Medicaid care that lets people with disabilities live at home instead of in institutions, are "largely an optional Medicaid benefit," which the Bipartisan Policy Center says makes them "more vulnerable to reductions during periods of state or federal budget constraints"; experts expect the law to "slow or reverse recent HCBS expansion efforts" in states.
- Steil Defended the Work Requirement for BadgerCare Adults Who Are Not Reporting a Disability, in August 2025. At his August 7, 2025 telephone town hall, Steil said that of the Wisconsin adults on Medicaid without children, "there's 63,000 people that are not currently reporting that they are either disabled or working or looking for work or volunteering," and that "what we want to do is help lift them up and into work," according to the Racine County Eye transcript. In Nebraska, the first state to enforce the federal requirement, "over 1,000 people lost or were denied Medicaid coverage under the new requirements between May and August" 2026, according to the state's initial figures as reported by Human Rights Watch, which also interviewed a 64-year-old man who said "he lost his Medicaid coverage while undergoing treatment for kidney cancer" although he cannot work.
What the Medicaid Changes Bryan Steil Voted For Mean for Disabled Wisconsinites
- 19,900 people with disabilities in Steil's district rely on Medicaid. KFF counts 19,900 people with disabilities among the 159,400 Medicaid enrollees in Wisconsin's 1st District in 2025; the Medicaid money the law cuts pays for their doctor visits, medicine and help at home.
- 9,160 Wisconsinites are already waiting for Medicaid home care. KFF counts 9,160 Wisconsinites on waiting lists for Medicaid home and community-based services in 2026, people who need help to live at home rather than in an institution; budget pressure from the federal cut makes it harder for the state to shorten that list.
- BadgerCare adults face the work requirement from January 2027. Wisconsin's health department says the requirement takes effect for new BadgerCare applicants on January 1, 2027 and for most current members at renewal from March 1, 2027; about 200,000 adults will be subject to it and about 63,000 are at risk of losing coverage.
Frequently Asked Questions About Bryan Steil on Disability rights
What is Bryan Steil's record on disability rights under Trump?
Bryan Steil voted for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, whose Medicaid work requirement makes adults with disabilities prove they are exempt, and cast deciding votes for the 2025 budget resolution that told the committee writing Medicaid law to cut at least $880 billion. He defended the requirement at an August 2025 town hall, and Wisconsin's health department says about 63,000 BadgerCare members are at risk of losing coverage.
Are people with disabilities exempt from the Medicaid work requirement Bryan Steil voted for?
Bryan Steil voted for a law that exempts people with disabilities only if they fit an exemption the state confirms. Wisconsin's health department lists people who are "medically frail" and veterans with a "total (100%) disability rating" among those exempt, so a BadgerCare Plus adult with a partial disability rating who is not judged medically frail may have to report work hours unless another exemption applies.
Did Bryan Steil defend the Medicaid work requirement?
Yes. Bryan Steil said at his October 20, 2026 debate in Janesville that the law's work requirements on "able-bodied, childless adults of working age" would strengthen Medicaid, the Wisconsin Examiner reported, a year after he told a town hall the goal for BadgerCare adults not reporting work or a disability was to move them into jobs.
Last updated: 2026-10-26