Fact-checking Misrepresentative Steil, Apr 28 2025

RACINE COUNTY, WI — During his April 28 telephone town hall, Rep. Bryan Steil (R-Janesville) addressed a wide range of questions from constituents, including Medicaid, immigration, voting laws, and the role of the judiciary.

While some of Steil’s answers were accurate, others were misleading, exaggerated, or unsupported claims. Here’s a breakdown of several key topics.

Fact check of Steil’s telephone town hall

Medicaid Fraud and Work Requirements

Caller’s Question:
Lynn from Twin Lakes asked how to reduce fraud, waste, and abuse in Medicaid while preserving it for people who truly need it.

Steil’s Response:
Steil supported implementing work requirements for able-bodied, working-age adults and claimed that California’s lack of an asset test allows people to abuse the Medicaid program.

Fact Check:

Work Requirements: While promoted as a way to reduce fraud, there is little evidence that work requirements achieve that goal.

Arkansas implemented work requirements in 2018 but later had them blocked after over 18,000 people lost coverage with no measurable employment gain. A study from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found that only 11 percent of the people who lost Medicaid coverage in 2018 regained it in 2019, indicating a significant number remained uninsured.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, “there is no evidence that Medicaid work requirements increase employment or earnings.”
Most Medicaid Enrollees Work: Despite claims of “free rides,” the majority of adults on Medicaid are working. According to a 2023 report by the Commonwealth Fund, 71% of working-age adults on Medicaid are either working, in school, or providing caregiving support.
California Asset Test: California does not apply an asset test to most low-income adult Medicaid applicants, in line with Affordable Care Act rules. However, eligibility is still based on income, and there’s no indication that wealthy individuals are abusing the system in large numbers.
Financial Impact of Uninsured Individuals in Wisconsin is significant:
- Uncompensated Care Costs – Wisconsin hospitals absorbed $580 million in charity care in 2011.
- Cost Shifting to Insured Patients – Hospitals increase charges for insured patients to offset losses from uninsured care, which leads to higher insurance premiums and out-of-pocket costs for everyone.
- Worsened Health Outcomes – Uninsured individuals delay care, causing preventable health problems and more costly emergency treatments.
- Economic Hardship from Medical Debt – Medical debt can prevent people from buying homes, cause housing instability, and worsen mental health.

Verdict: Partially accurate, but Steil’s broader claims about widespread abuse and the utility of work requirements are misleading and not supported by evidence.

Judges and ICE obstruction

Caller’s Question:
Fred from St. Francis raised concerns about judges interfering with immigration enforcement.

Steil’s Response:
Steil cited a Milwaukee County judge allegedly helping an undocumented immigrant evade ICE, calling it obstruction and claiming some judges are acting like “super legislators.”

Fact Check:

The Case: Judge Hannah Dugan is facing a federal obstruction charge related to her alleged actions during a hearing involving Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, an undocumented man who had re-entered the U.S. after being deported and was facing battery charges. According to court records and reporting by WISN 12 News, Dugan allegedly instructed court staff to help Flores-Ruiz exit through a side door to avoid ICE agents.
Suspect’s Record: According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Flores-Ruiz had been deported in 2013 and illegally reentered the United States. At the time of the April incident, he was facing three counts of misdemeanor battery with domestic abuse modifiers stemming from a March 12 altercation in Milwaukee. According to the criminal complaint, Flores-Ruiz allegedly assaulted his roommate and two women during a dispute over loud music, resulting in injuries that required hospital treatment.
Warrant Type: It is important to note that ICE agents reportedly had only an administrative warrant, not a judicial one. An administrative warrant is issued by ICE for immigration violations and does not carry the legal authority of a judicial warrant, which must be signed by a judge and allows broader enforcement under criminal law. Flores-Ruiz was subsequently apprehended outside the courthouse after a brief foot chase.

Verdict: Mostly accurate, though Steil’s broader claims about “super legislator” judges are opinion-based and not supported with examples.

Voting security and the SAVE Act

Caller’s Question:
Amy expressed concern that the SAVE Act could cause confusion for people, especially women who changed their names due to marriage.

Rep. Steil’s Response:
Steil said the SAVE Act allows for flexibility through state-run systems and that concerns about disenfranchisement are overblown.

Fact Check:

What the SAVE Act Does: The bill requires documentary proof of U.S. citizenship—such as a passport or birth certificate—when registering to vote in federal elections. This would effectively ban voter registration by mail or online in many cases.
Disenfranchisement Risk: Civil rights and voting rights groups warn the bill could disenfranchise millions. According to the Brennan Center for Justice, the law would impact low-income voters, rural voters, seniors, naturalized citizens, and women who have changed their names.
Legal Challenges Likely: Legal experts argue the SAVE Act may be a backdoor attempt to undermine the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA), which allows voter registration with minimal documentation, and at least one court agrees.

In the 2018 case of Fish v. Kobach, U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson ruled that Kansas’s law requiring documentary proof of citizenship for voter registration violated the NVRA. She found that the law disenfranchised tens of thousands of eligible voters without sufficient evidence of noncitizen voting.
Constitutional Workaround? While not an amendment or repeal, critics argue the SAVE Act functionally sidesteps constitutional protections by creating hurdles that discourage or prevent eligible voters from registering. This could trigger constitutional scrutiny under the 14th and 24th Amendments.
Noncitizen voting in Wisconsin is rare and illegal: A 2024 audit by the Wisconsin Elections Commission identified only 30 instances of suspected voter fraud between July 2023 and September 2024, with no indication that these involved noncitizens, according to a story from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Election officials emphasize that noncitizen voting is not a significant issue in the state.

Despite these facts, political rhetoric has boosted concerns about noncitizen voting. For example, in 2024, Wisconsin voters approved a constitutional amendment explicitly stating that only U.S. citizens are allowed to vote in the state despite it already being illegal.

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