SOURCE: KAISER FAMILY FOUNDATION
The Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit organization focusing on national health issues, recently released updated Medicaid fact sheets and a related issue brief highlighting key Medicaid issues to watch for in the 2018 elections. Read on below for more information on this important Election 2018 resource.
On Thursday, September 27, 2018, the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) released an updated collection of state-specific Medicaid fact sheets that summarize Medicaid coverage and spending. These fact sheets provide a critical snapshot of the importance of Medicaid in every state as the country heads into the fall elections for Congress and 36 gubernatorial contests that are likely to impact Medicaid expansion, Medicaid work requirements, and state and federal Medicaid spending.
The outcome of the 2018 elections could fundamentally change the scope and financing of the Medicaid program, impacting more than 76 million Americans. This time last year, Congress was debating whether or not to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and make fundamental changes to Medicaid financing. While federal legislative changes to Medicaid did not pass in 2017, a shift in the composition of the Senate and House after the elections could determine whether Congress once again considers legislation related to the ACA.
Such legislation could impact ACA Medicaid expansion and Medicaid financing caps. A preview of such debates appears in Senate races in Missouri, North Dakota, and West Virginia, where Democratic incumbents are running on platforms that include protections for people with preexisting conditions. The Republican challengers in both Missouri and West Virginia are state attorneys generals who have signed onto TX v. Azar, which challenges the ACA.
Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) provide health care and long-term coverage for more than 70 million low-income children, pregnant women, adults, seniors, and people with disabilities in the United States while supplying funding for safety-net providers, and generating the largest source of federal revenues for states. Click here to view the state-specific fact sheets from KFF and learn what percentage of people are covered by Medicaid/CHIP in your state.
In addition to the state-specific fact sheets, KKF released a brief that highlights key Medicaid issues to watch in the elections, including Medicaid expansion ballot initiatives in Idaho, Nebraska, and Utah.
For additional resources and facts regarding Medicaid coverage and spending from Kaiser Family Foundation, click here.
The Kaiser Family Foundation is a non-profit organization focusing on national health issues, as well as the U.S. role in global health policy. Kaiser develops and runs its own policy analysis, journalism and communications programs, sometimes in partnership with major news organizations. It serves as a non-partisan source of facts, analysis and journalism for policymakers, the media, the health policy community and the public. It is not associated with Kaiser Permanente. This material is shared via the Kaiser Family Foundation through the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license.
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