On Dec. 1, North Carolina became the 40th state to implement Medicaid expansion. For 600,000 residents newly eligible for one of the most effective health insurance programs in the United States, it was a life-changing day. Everyone in the country—regardless of who they are, where they live or how much money they make—should have health insurance. Strengthening Medicaid moves us closer to that goal and achieving health equity.
The largest health insurance program in the United States, Medicaid now provides free or low-cost coverage to more than 83 million people—but the program is at a crossroads. Thanks in large part to considerable Medicaid coverage gains in recent years, the national uninsured rate dropped to record-low levels in early 2023. But with states now disenrolling millions of people due to the end of continuous coverage protections, the number of individuals losing access to Medicaid is growing at an alarming rate. Congress and state lawmakers should do everything in their power to ensure that eligible people—especially children—do not lose coverage inappropriately and that anyone ineligible for Medicaid can quickly secure alternate paths to coverage.
The above is an excerpt of a piece originally published in Route Fifty.
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