Report: If Congress guts Medicaid, rural America would notice
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Congressional Republicans are taking a hard look at Medicaid as they pursue spending cuts and a new report shows how the public health program is preventing care access from further eroding in rural North Dakota and elsewhere.
A House GOP proposal floats a nearly $2.5 trillion Medicaid reduction. Findings from Georgetown University's Center for Children and Families showed people in rural areas are more likely than metro populations to receive health coverage through Medicaid.
Katy Kozhimannil, professor of health and policy management at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, said the program is a key contributor to pregnancy care in these settings.
"Offering obstetric care is a financial challenge for hospitals as revenues may not cover the costs of providing that care," Kozhimannil pointed out. "Medicaid covers nearly half of all births nationally and plays a substantially larger role in paying for births in rural areas."
The report said in 2022, 52 percent of rural hospitals no longer had maternity wards, compared with 36 percent of urban hospitals. There is concern the gap would widen with Medicaid cuts and North Dakota almost leads the nation for lack of rural OB/GYN services. Some House Republicans insist the programs need reform to avoid a fiscal collapse. But skeptics said drastic changes are a way to offset a planned extension of federal tax cuts.
The report also pointed out residents in rural areas have worse health outcomes.
Joan Alker, executive director of the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families, said it demonstrates why Medicaid is so important, adding it serves as a lifeline to a range of populations living in these communities.
"It is serving children. It is serving seniors in nursing homes, people with disabilities," Alker outlined.
Alker noted Medicaid helps recipients get ahead of health challenges through preventive care, as
opposed to letting conditions worsen.
"People wind up sicker and then they're in the emergency room and children can't get their asthma inhalers and they miss school," Alker explained.
