This April marks the eighth annual Medicaid Awareness Month. Medicaid is the largest health insurance program in the country, providing health care for over 70 million Americans. It is a crucial source of quality and affordable care for millions of mothers and children. Medicaid covers more than 40 percent of all births and provides lifesaving postpartum care. After infancy, nearly half of all American children rely on Medicaid for childhood health coverage. Thanks to Medicaid, moms and babies can get the care they need before, during, and after birth, preventing devastating outcomes and setting children up for success. Medicaid also assists women with reproductive care, such as family planning, breast and cervical cancer screenings, and treatment for sexually transmitted infections or diseases (STIs/STDs). Since the ACA opened the door for states to expand Medicaid in 2010, Medicaid coverage has saved lives and drastically reduced health disparities. Medicaid expansion increased enrollment by about 24 million people, resulting in healthier people, communities, and economies. Study after study shows that Medicaid expansion increases access to care, improves financial security, and leads to better health outcomes.
Republicans are seeking broad and devastating cuts to Medicaid through their latest budget that would raise costs and rip away coverage from millions of Americans, just to give billionaires and big corporations another tax break. For pregnant and postpartum women, affordable health coverage is more essential than ever as the United States continues to experience the highest rates of maternal mortality and morbidity among wealthy nations. The consequences of severe cuts to Medicaid would be felt by every community in America. Families would be forced to choose between seeing a doctor, filling a prescription, and putting food on the table. Recent polling found there is broad opposition across party lines to any cuts to Medicaid, with 67 percent saying Congress should increase spending on Medicaid or keep it about the same.
During Medicaid Awareness Month, Protect Our Care is continuing its “Hands Off Medicaid” campaign with theme weeks to underscore the importance of Medicaid across the country. The final theme week of Medicaid Awareness Month highlights how Medicaid provides lifesaving health care to mothers, babies, and their families. Alongside partners, lawmakers, and other advocates, Protect Our Care is working to defend Medicaid from the Republican-led plan to slash funding to pay for another round of tax breaks for the wealthy and big corporations.
GOP Cuts to Medicaid Will Take Health Care Away From Up to 31 Million Children, Nearly Half of America’s Kids.
By The Numbers:
- Children Have the Highest Poverty Rate of Any Age Group in America. Without Medicaid, millions of children will be more likely to suffer from bad health, get trapped in a cycle of poverty, and be denied long, healthy lives.
- Nearly Half of American Children Are Enrolled In Medicaid. Approximately 31.5 million children in the United States are enrolled in Medicaid.
- The Children’s Uninsured Rate In Medicaid Holdout States Is Double The Rate In Expansion States. In 2021, the child uninsured rate was 8.3 percent in holdout states, compared to 4.6 percent in states that adopted expansion. If holdout states expanded Medicaid, the number of uninsured children would drop by 7.3 percent.
Medicaid Helps Children Stay Healthy, Leads To Long-Term Benefits When They Grow Up. Medicaid eligibility during childhood lowers the high school dropout rate, raises college enrollment, and increases four-year college attainment. Medicaid for children also has a positive impact on employment opportunities later in life. For each additional year of Medicaid eligibility as a child, adults by age 28 had higher earnings and made $533 additional cumulative tax payments due to their higher incomes. A 2020 study also found that children who received health insurance through Medicaid were less likely to die young, more likely to be employed in their adult life, and less likely to develop a disability as adults.
Medicaid Helps Children With Disabilities Thrive. Families with children with disabilities are more likely to fall into financial hardship. Medicaid provides a safety net through its cost-sharing protections to help children with disabilities get the care they need without putting additional stress on their family to pay for their doctor visits, medication, or therapy. Children with disabilities’ needs are also more likely to be met when they are covered through Medicaid versus private insurance. This is likely due to Medicaid’s robust benefits package that includes long-term care services and support (LTSS), home and community-based services (HCBS), and Early Periodic Screening Diagnostic and Treatment (EPSDT) that typically are not covered by private insurers. GOP cuts to Medicaid would jeopardize coverage for these children. They would gut children with disabilities’ access to essential services and stop them from achieving their full potential.
Medicaid Provides Critical Funding For School Health To Help All Students Succeed. Medicaid provides critical funding for schools to get equipment, services, and personnel that students with Individualized Education Plans require to succeed. From speech therapy to personal aides to the technology that helps blind and deaf students communicate, Medicaid funding ensures schools can provide the wide range of services needed to educate students with disabilities and allows them to comply with the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requirements despite their strained budgets.
Republicans Will Rip Away Care From Moms and Children and Exacerbate The Nation’s Maternal Health Crisis.
By The Numbers:
- Almost Half Of Births Are Covered By Medicaid. Medicaid covers 41 percent of births in the United States and the majority of births in several Republican-controlled states, including Louisiana, Mississippi, and Oklahoma. Medicaid helped pay for 1.5 million births in 2023, but Republicans want to drastically reduce funding.
- The United States Has the Highest Rate of Maternal Deaths of Any High-Income Country. In 2022, there were approximately 22 maternal deaths for every 100,000 live births in the United States. Maternal deaths are highest among Black mothers, even though over 80 percent of these deaths are considered preventable.
Medicaid Expansion Is Associated With Better Maternal Health Outcomes. Democrats in Congress passed legislation enabling states to extend postpartum Medicaid coverage from six weeks to one year, giving comprehensive coverage in the critical year after birth to moms in 49 states. States that additionally expanded Medicaid under the ACA had an average of a 17 percent decrease in postpartum hospitalizations and experienced lower maternal mortality rates than states that did not expand Medicaid. Republicans are fighting to gut funding for Medicaid expansion, putting the lives of American moms at risk just so a few ultra-wealthy can get even more tax breaks.
Medicaid Is Critical For The Women Who Are Most At Risk For Complications. Medicaid provides screening for conditions such as preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, high blood pressure, and diseases that greatly increase the chance of severe complications during delivery. In 2021, 43,600 women with these conditions received the care they needed through Medicaid.
Medicaid Is A Lifeline For Moms In Black, Latina, and Rural Communities. In 2021, Medicaid provided maternity care to 64 percent of Black mothers and 58 percent of Latina mothers. Medicaid also pays for a greater share of births in rural areas than any other source of coverage.
Without Medicaid Funding, More Birthing Hospitals Will Be Forced To Close. Rural hospitals rely on Medicaid funding to keep their doors open. GOP-proposed per capita caps and block grants will greatly cut federal funding and force states to cut back on how much they pay hospitals, putting moms at risk of losing access to care.
Republicans’ Plan to Cut Medicaid Funding Will Put Essential Reproductive Health Care and Coverage in Jeopardy.
By The Numbers:
- Medicaid is the Largest Provider of Sexual and Reproductive Health Coverage. 1 in 5 women of reproductive age use Medicaid for health care coverage, and two-thirds of women enrolled in Medicaid are of reproductive age. Medicaid also accounts for 75 percent of public funding for family planning services, such as birth control. Thirty states have also expanded family planning benefits to more people.
- Medicaid Provides Critical Sexual and Reproductive Care. Medicaid pays for a disproportionate share of STI care compared to other providers. People with Medicaid coverage are more likely to receive STI screening than people with private or no health insurance. If left untreated, STIs/STDs can lead to serious complications that leave patients drowning in medical debt or in worse scenarios, death.
Medicaid Provides Vital Reproductive Health Services. Medicaid provides vital services for women of reproductive age, such as covering family planning services, STI/STD tests and treatments, breast and cervical cancer screenings, and other preventive screenings and annual checkups. This coverage helps women of color in particular. Black women are 71 percent more likely to die from cervical cancer than their white counterparts and Black and Latina women make up 80 percent of women living with HIV or AIDS.
Medicaid Assists Women With Fertility Issues. 8 states require at least one Medicaid plan offered in the state to provide diagnostic services for infertility. While only New York requires their Medicaid state plans to cover fertility treatments, Medicaid covers treatments for other health conditions that can impact fertility, such as thyroid medications, fibroid surgery, and endometriosis or other gynecologic abnormalities that can cause pelvic pain or abnormal bleeding. Several states also cover fertility preservation for people whose medical treatments, such as chemotherapy, may cause infertility. Medicaid’s role is essential to ensure equitable access to these treatments, especially for families of color.