Medicaid Receives Praise From Its Recipients
There’s a fallacy amongst some people that suggests Medicaid recipients are receiving less than stellar healthcare. That couldn’t be further from the truth according to a new study from Harvard’s Chan School of Public Health that shows that Medicaid recipients are very pleased with their coverage. The study is derived from research conducted on over 270,000 people enrolled in Medicaid in 2013. The study was published in the July 10 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association’s publication, JAMA Internal Medicine.
The data—provided by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services—showed that on a 10-point scale (10 being “the best”), almost 50% of recipients who participated gave the platform a 9. That’s almost a perfect score. Further, 84% of Medicaid recipients who were surveyed expressed that over the last six months, they had all of their medical needs satisfied thanks to Medicaid. In a world where hardly any government-facilitated programs receive rave reviews, these results are impressive. But what do they mean?
Well, for one, it would seem that people using Medicaid are clearly satisfied with it. In the wake of Congressional Republicans seeking to restructure Medicaid, and talking about reducing federal funding for the program as part of its efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA), it’s not surprising that many Americans have failed to endorse these approaches.
And why would they? The most recent report from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) assessing the effects of the U.S. Senate’s updated Better Care Reconciliation Act found that while reducing Medicaid spending helped to reduce the federal budget deficit, a long-time Republican objective, it had other impacts. The CBO report stated that by 2026, Medicaid spending would be reduced by 26 percent. The report also stated: “About three-quarters of that reduction would result from scaling back the expansion of eligibility enacted in the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
In 2026, for people who are made newly eligible under the ACA (certain adults under the age of 65 whose income is less than or equal to 138 percent of the federal poverty level [FPL]), Medicaid spending would be reduced by 87 percent, from $134 billion to $17 billion—mainly because the penalty associated with the individual mandate would be repealed and the enhanced federal matching rate for spending on that group would be phased out. As a result of the reduced matching rate, some states would roll back their expansion of eligibility and others that would have expanded eligibility under current law would choose not to do so. All other federal spending on Medicaid in that year would be reduced by 9 percent, from $490 billion to $447 billion.”
CBO analysis of the original Better Care Reconciliation Act and the House of Representatives’ American Health Care Act were similar. They identified that these bills’ reduction in funding Medicaid would help to reduce the federal deficit, but also would result in fewer people being eligible for Medicaid. The CBO found that all of the Republican bills resulted in fewer people having health insurance coverage.
Based on the satisfaction ratings in the Harvard study, if you are now eligible for Medicaid, you probably aren’t anxious to support legislation that would make you ineligible for a program you like, a lot. The question remains as to why some members of Congress thought the American public would support reducing funding for a program that is currently teetering on a near-perfect rating. Maybe that’s why the latest Gallup poll in July found Americans’ approval of Congress at 20%. The Gallup poll found that 28% of Americans who identify as Republicans say they approve of the job Congress is doing compared to 12% of Americans who are Democrats. Nowhere near the high satisfaction ratings Medicaid users are giving Medicaid., Unlike Congress, it looks like Medicaid is getting the job done for the Americans it serves.
To view the study results, click here.
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