Medicaid is the largest safety net in the United States for low-income people; it accounts for 1/6 of all health care spending in the United States. Two-thirds of Medicaid spending is dedicated to older or disabled adults – this is mostly dedicated to paying for long-term care services like nursing homes. If the cuts to the American Health Care Act proposed by Congress pass in the Senate, it would cut Medicaid by over $800 billion, the largest single reduction in a social insurance program in the history of the United States. For more information about how these proposed Medicaid cuts may possibly affect our seniors, disabled persons and regular taxpayers, follow our link to the NYT article.

You’re Probably Going to Need Medicaid

By DAVID GRABOWSKI, JONATHAN GRUBER and VINCENT MOR | NYT Article

Imagine your mother needs to move into a nursing home. It’s going to cost her almost $100,000 a year. Very few people have private insurance to cover this. Your mother will most likely run out her savings until she qualifies for Medicaid.

This is not a rare event. Roughly one in three people now turning 65 will require nursing home care at some point during his or her life. Over three-quarters of long-stay nursing home residents will eventually be covered by Medicaid. Many American voters think Medicaid is only for low-income adults and their children — for people who aren’t “like them.” But Medicaid is not “somebody else’s” insurance. It is insurance for all of our mothers and fathers and, eventually, for ourselves.

The American Health Care Act that passed the House and is now being debated by the Senate would reduce spending on Medicaid by over $800 billion, the largest single reduction in a social insurance program in our nation’s history. The budget released by President Trump last month would up the ante by slashing another $600 billion over 10 years from the program. Whether the Senate adopts cuts of quite this magnitude or not, any legislation that passes the Republican Congress is likely to include the largest cuts to the Medicaid program since its inception.

Much focus has rightly been placed on the enormous damage this would do to lower-income families and youth. But what has been largely missing from public discussion is the radical implications that such cuts would have for older and disabled Americans. [read entire article]