GOP Medicaid cuts would hurt much more than heal
The Senate’s new health bill, the Better Care Reconciliation Act, proposes even deeper cuts to Medicaid than the House bill. At risk is a program that provides relatively low-cost care to nearly 75 million Americans — including children, pregnant women, disabled individuals and elderly people in nursing homes.
As physicians, we are dismayed by the prospect of millions of patients losing access to the medical care they need. But what is often lost in the debate about who should have health care and who should pay for it is the larger fact that Medicaid helps people live healthier, fuller and more productive lives. The unavoidable reality for those trying to dismantle the program is that the health of people is intimately linked to the health of communities, local economies and the nation as a whole.
Medicaid has a number of positive effects for patients and communities that often go unrecognized, including more employment, higher earnings, greater educational attainment and lower incarceration rates.
A 2015 study analyzed how children eligible for Medicaid fare compared to children who are also poor but are ineligible.Researchers found that children who were eligible had higher earnings, collected less in tax credits and paid more in taxes for decades to come. The longer they were eligible, the greater the effect. For every year a person had Medicaid, income increased by $250, and by the time children were 28, the government had earned back 14 cents for every dollar invested in the program. Researchers estimated that through greater tax revenue alone the government would earn back more than half of what it spent — 56 cents on the dollar — by the time these individuals reached 60.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/gop-medicaid-cuts-would-hurt-much-more-than-health/ar-BBDeR48?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=edgsp
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