Jeopardizing a sound investment: why short-term cuts to Medicaid coverage during pregnancy and childhood could result in long-term harm
- Collection:
- Health Policy and Services Research
- Series Title(s):
- Issue brief (Commonwealth Fund)
- Author(s):
- Park, Edwin, author Alker, Joan, author Corcoran, Alexandra, author
- Contributor(s):
- Commonwealth Fund, issuing body.
- Publication:
- [New York, New York] : The Commonwealth Fund, December 2020
- Language(s):
- English
- Format:
- Text
- Subject(s):
- Child Health Insurance Coverage Maternal Health Medicaid Pregnant Women United States
- Genre(s):
- Technical Report
- Abstract:
- ISSUE. States are facing large revenue shortfalls and budget deficits from the COVID-19 crisis. To close deficits, they will need to raise taxes, cut spending to critical public programs like Medicaid, or both. GOALS. Examine the long-term benefits of Medicaid coverage of children and pregnant women, and the likely impact of state Medicaid cuts for the short and long term. METHODS. Review of research literature on the long-term benefits of Medicaid coverage of children and pregnant women. KEY FINDINGS. Research shows Medicaid coverage of children and pregnant women is associated with improved health and lower rates of disability in adulthood. Medicaid coverage is also associated with higher educational attainment and greater financial security. Some studies find that Black children particularly benefit. Medicaid also produces financial benefits for society and a strong return on government investment. CONCLUSIONS. Because state and federal policymakers tend to focus more on short-term budget windows, they do not always consider long-term consequences. In addition to further temporary boosts in federal Medicaid funding, one potential policy solution is an automatic federal funding increase to avert Medicaid budget cuts during future economic downturns.
- Copyright:
- Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further use of the material is subject to CC BY license. (More information)
- Extent:
- 1 online resource (1 PDF file (12 pages))
- Illustrations:
- Illustrations
- NLM Unique ID:
- 101774875 (See catalog record)
- Permanent Link:
- http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/101774875