Friday, January 24, 2025

GOP considers cutting millions in Medicaid funding; rural health may pay the price

 Georgetown University graph, from 2022-2023 American Community Survey data

President Donald Trump has a big agenda that needs big funding. To pay for Trump's plan, GOP members are considering axing chunks of federal Medicaid spending, which could "put the residents of small towns and rural communities and their health care systems at serious risk," report Georgetown University researchers.

Rural Americans who are non-elderly adults and children "are more likely to rely on Medicaid/CHIP (Children's Health Insurance Program) for their health insurance," researchers explain. Medicaid reductions could be especially harmful for:
  • Children in Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, South Carolina, California, Minnesota, Georgia, South Dakota and Alaska.
  • Adults in Arizona, New York, Washington, Texas, Kentucky, Virginia, Louisiana, Oregon, South Carolina and Montana.

Medicaid reductions would be particularly harmful for rural children in 10 states.
 (Georgetown University graph, from 2022-2023 American Community Survey data)

Part of the reason many rural residents rely on Medicaid is because their incomes tend to be lower and they lack "access to employer-sponsored health insurance, meaning that public coverage such as Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program fill an even more critical role in these areas than in other areas of the country," according to the Georgetown University report. "While uninsured rates have come down significantly since passage of the Affordable Care Act, they remain higher in small towns and rural areas."

Siphoning millions in Medicaid funding to pay for other priorities "poses a very severe threat to rural communities," researchers add. "Hospitals and other providers in rural communities are already operating on tighter margins and disproportionately rely on Medicaid for their patient revenues. . . . Large cuts will have dire consequences for communities that are already struggling."

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