Medicaid Cuts are Dire-Here is Some of Our Best Writing on Its Value

The Medicaid cuts are dire in the Big Beautiful Bill. Some of the forthcoming changes and cuts are still a couple of years away, but now is the time to prepare. We should remember how important Medicaid is and why, and continue to talk widely about its value and its challenges.

We should also understand that in policy, nothing is permanent. Political winds will shift again, and opportunities for change will come. To support this, here are some important reads about Medicaid published here at The Medical Care Blog.

This recent post by Emma DiFiore offered the perspective of a primary care physician serving Medicaid patients in Texas. She reviewed the popularity and effectiveness of the program, and called for policy-makers to listen more closely to frontline health care workers.

Editor Ben King covered the roots and evolution of Medicaid, and highlighted the impacts that cuts to the program would have. He explored how cuts would likely affect the private insurance industry, rural communities and homeless populations.

Written during the rosier health policy landscape of the Biden administration, Zach Dyer deftly reviewed the outsized impact that changes to Medicaid have on Black, Latino, and Indigenous people. He ultimately calls for abolishing separate systems of care.

What’s old is new again. Marian Jarlenski and Sara N. Bleich thoughtfully reviewed the evidence informing the debate around work requirements in 2018 for safety-net programs. This post offered strategies for implementing these rules in more fair and equitable ways.

The U.S. has seen considerable recent reductions in opioid deaths. And this article by Andrew Huhn from 2018 reminded readers of how treatable opioid use disorder is, and how Medicaid can serve as an important payer for a variety of treatments.

It was not totally unreasonable to think that in 2023 (when more than 90 million people were enrolled in Medicaid programs across the U.S.) that Medicaid could offer a flexible strategy toward universal health care. I stand by this somewhat unconventional argument.

Gregory D. Stevens, PhD, MHS is a health policy researcher, writer, teacher and advocate. He is Chair of the Department of Public Health at California State University, Los Angeles. He serves on the editorial board of the journal Medical Care, and is co-editor of The Medical Care Blog. He is also a co-author of the book Vulnerable Populations in the United States.