Dear Medicaid: Happy 46th Birthday!
Coauthored by Rachel Gielau
On July 30th, 1965, President Johnson signed Medicaid into law. Its mission, then and now, is access to quality, affordable health care. For 46 years, Medicaid has been a lifeline to millions of America’s most vulnerable people, including low-income seniors, people with disabilities, children and their parents, and pregnant women. Today, the public health insurance program is the second largest health insurer in the United States, providing quality coverage and peace of mind to one out of five Americans.
Unfortunately, in the midst of the budget battles being fought in Washington Medicaid is under attack. Right-wing proposals like the U.S. House-passed Republican budget plan calls for debilitating cuts that would end the Medicaid program as we know it, slashing the program by about one-third and shifting costs onto states, beneficiaries and providers.
But individuals and families in Illinois depend on Medicaid!
- For 46 years, Medicaid has been the foundation of health coverage for Illinois’ most vulnerable populations. Today, more than 2.5 million Illinoisans (60 percent are children; 20 percent are elderly, blind, or disabled adults) rely on Medicaid.
- Children depend on Medicaid! Almost 1.5 million children, or 43 percent of all kids in Illinois, rely on Medicaid for their well-child doctor visits and other health care needs. For most low-income children, Medicaid is the only source of affordable coverage available.
- Medicaid is a lifeline! For more than 559,000 Illinois seniors and people with disabilities Medicaid provides affordable long-term and specialty care. Access to these services helps avoid the use of institutionalized care, keeping costs down and families together.
And we know that Medicaid works!
- Medicaid makes Illinoisans healthier! Medicaid has been proven to increase access to affordable health care for low-income people, which improves the health and financial stability for families everywhere.
- Because of Medicaid, low-income children in Illinois are able to get a healthy start in life. Medicaid helps Illinois children be better students and develop healthy living habits early in life. With access to well-child care, our children get the primary care they need to avoid absences from school and prevent costly chronic health conditions later in life.
- The success of public health insurance programs like Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP—called All Kids in Illinois) has kept uninsured rates for children from spiking due to the economic recession.
- Medicaid is more cost-effective than private health insurance! Medicaid spending per enrollee has increased at a slower rate than that of private insurance. Also, Medicaid spends less per enrollee than private insurance does. In fact, “Medicaid costs 27% less for children and 20% less for adults than private insurance.”
- Medicaid stimulates the economy and supports jobs in Illinois. Every dollar spent on Medicaid in Illinois generates matching federal funds that come back to the state, increasing economic activity and creating jobs. In 2009, Medicaid funding brought an additional $46 billion in business activity, $15.8 billion in wages, and support for 385,742 jobs to local economies in Illinois.
- While America and Illinois can take pride in Medicaid as it turns 46, the program needs and is getting 21st Century improvements. Primary care case management, medical homes, electronic medical records, disease management, coordinated care and other initiatives aimed at improving the quality of care for Medicaid patients and controlling costs are all in effect or on the drawing board in Illinois and elsewhere.
Medicaid just marked its 46th birthday. We think it has improved with age. And as we sing at the end of the birthday song, “Happy birthday to you—and many more.”
