Report: Medicaid cuts would disproportionately affect rural Coloradans
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As the new Congress considers cutting Medicaid by more than $2 trillion, a new report details how the move would disproportionately affect rural communities by shifting health costs to low- and moderate-income families and health providers.
Toni Sarge, child and family health director for the Colorado Children's Campaign, said there is no way to cut Medicaid without hurting kids.
"Proposals to cut, cap or to alter Medicaid spending or programs in any way is going to leave thousands of kids in our lowest-income families in rural areas and across the state without comprehensive health coverage," Sarge emphasized.
Nearly one in five adults and 37 percent of children living in rural Colorado rely on Medicaid for their health insurance, numbers significantly higher than in urban areas. The Trump administration has promised to make substantial cuts to the federal budget, and some House Republicans have argued programs, including Medicaid, need to be reformed to avoid a fiscal collapse.
Some skeptics see the cuts as a way to pay for extending Trump's 2017 tax cuts, which disproportionately benefit corporations and the wealthy.
Joan Alker, executive director of the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families, the group behind the report, said Medicaid helps people stay ahead of health challenges through preventive care. When families do not have coverage, they are more likely to delay care until it becomes a crisis.
"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 outlined.
The Children's Health Insurance Program is a major component of Medicaid, under which routine medical and dental checkups are free and families only pay up to 5 percent of their income for health expenses. Sarge pointed out when kids have access to health care, they do better in school and are more likely to get good-paying jobs as adults.
"We also see lower high school dropout rates," Sarge added. "It not only impacts the health of a child in that moment, it affects their long-term health and their long-term financial stability."
