Some Senate Republicans hope for changes to house the GOP budget plan
Some Senate Republicans have expressed concern over Medicaid cuts and are calling for changes.
Janae Stevenson was looking for her first “big girl job” when she was hit by symptoms in 2021. A few months after graduating from Arizona State University, she began to suffer from severe stomach pain, diarrhea and vomiting matches.
The doctor said she needs to remove her gallbladder. This is a thousand dollar surgery. Her family's insurance covers only about 20% of the process, and without the Arizona Medicaid program, Stephenson said she and her parents, who work in education and social work, would have struggled to pay the emergency fees.
The program helped her heal enough to find her first job and get her private health insurance, she said.
But Congress's recent budget proposal would place Medicaid on the chopping block, and Stevenson said he feared millions of people across the country who rely on the program.
“The cuts to Medicaid aren't just harming my family, it just doesn't harm my current community,” said Stephenson, who is currently advocating for the National Domestic Workers' Alliance. “These make it impossible for people like me to get the surgery they need.”
If agreed by the Senate, the budget resolution passed by the Republican-led House this week would extend the 2017 tax cuts that benefited mostly wealthy Americans., It calls for the federal government to cut its spending by $2 trillion.
Budget experts warn that the plan could require dramatic changes and cuts to Medicaid, a federal health insurance program that covers more than 70 million Americans, or about one in five people nationwide.
It remains to be seen how Congress can cut Medicaid spending. However, any cut can affect the American people's big stripes.
Approximately 60% of American adults either used Medicaid to cover their healthcare or know family members or close friends who used the program. Recent surveys The Kaiser Family Foundation is directed.
“The majority of people in the US were personally impressed with Medicaid, and in reality, they could be a future, even if they haven't already,” said Joan Alker, executive director of the Children and Family Center at Georgetown University.
Almost half of our children take Medicaid
Medicaid has roughly covered Four in 10 people In the US in 2021, almost half of American children receive medical care through the program.
Many children are receiving Medicaid because they are less likely to access employer-sponsored insurance than their parents, Alker told USA Today. Private insurance plans offered by employers often do not include affordable options for dependency coverage, she said.
In 2022, family premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance averaged Over $22,000 One year, according to a survey published by the Kaiser Family Foundation.
For some children, including children with chronic illnesses and special needs, Medicaid may also serve as supplementary insurance that provides otherwise apparent benefits.
Medicaid covers almost half of children with special needs. Recent reports published by Georgetown's Center for Children and Families It was also found that one in ten active service members have Medicaid coverage in addition to military-sponsored healthcare.
Military families are more likely to have children with special health or mental health needs than civil-sector families, the report says.
Rural Americans are disproportionately dependent on Medicaid
Americans living in rural areas are more likely to need Medicaid compensation than their urban peers.
Almost a Rural residents quarter According to a 2021 survey issued by the Medicaid and Tip Payment and Access Commission, under the age of 65 relies on Medicaid.
The reasons vary. People in small towns and rural areas are more likely to work in jobs that do not provide comprehensive medical coverage, such as farming or seasonal jobs, Alker said.
They are also more likely to have lower incomes than people living in other areas, often older and have a higher percentage of disability. Survey in 2017 Published by the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Elderly people who need long-term care and their families
Medicaid is the largest insurance provider Long-term care services and supportand it can be useful for making adults and people with disabilities into daily activities, such as nursing homes and home medical care needs. The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that around 6 million people use Medicaid for their long-term care solutions.
High long-term care costs lead to many older Americans, even upper and middle-class Americans, to exhaust their savings. 2023, Median annual cost Home health assistance was over $75,000, more than $75,000, according to Care Scouts, a long-term care site. A semi-private room in a nursing home cost an average of $104,025.
Stephenson, now 24, said his veteran health care would not cover care when his grandfather began to show signs of dementia. Her family once again turned to Medicaid to help with the costs. Without care, Stephenson said that his mother would need to quit their job to give her assistance 24 hours a day.
Many Americans will face the burden of having to look after their elderly parents.
Published in 2020 National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP It was found that about one in five of the country's estimated 53 million caregivers care for adults. Many stay in the workforce while caring for their loved ones. However, the study found people in their 40s and 50s temporarily withdrawing from the workforce in their 40s and 50s in the face of long-term economic losses.
Usually, women too There's a high chance that you'll quit your job Caring for a poorer family than a man.
Katherine Hempstead, a senior policy advisor to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, says that long-term care coverage is one of the most risky Medicaid services if the program receives federal cuts and if the program receives federal cuts.
If her grandfather's Medicaid coverage changes, Stephenson said it would be “devastating.”
