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Jan. 21, 2025 |  By: Mark Moran - Public News Service

Report: Medicaid cuts threaten Nebraska youth

medicaid

By Mark Moran - Public News Service

Advocates for young Nebraskans worry proposed federal cuts could affect families who rely on Medicaid for their health care.

A new national report showed the number of children covered by the program is already heading in the wrong direction. The Georgetown University Center for Children and Families said nearly 4.2 million fewer children were enrolled in Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program by the end of 2023, as states cut their Medicaid rolls when pandemic-related assistance programs ended.

Rebecca Firestone, executive director of Nebraska's Open Sky Policy Institute, said further cuts could affect children whose families have Medicaid as their health insurance.

"Fifty-three percent of the Medicaid population in Nebraska is children," Firestone pointed out. "Potentially, their health insurance coverage is affected if there has to be substantial cuts to Medicaid."

Firestone noted the number is on the rise. Nebraska already faces a $432 million budget shortfall, which means if federal Medicaid cuts happen, there are no state dollars in the budget to make up the difference.

Firestone emphasized reduced federal funds would also have an outsize effect on Nebraska's rural health care providers.

"Sixty-eight percent of hospitals in Nebraska are located in rural areas," Firestone noted. "Most of them are very reliant on Medicaid as well as Medicare. About half of all of Nebraska's hospitals are operating in the red, including about 60% small, rural hospitals."

She explained state lawmakers were able to leverage $1.4 billion in additional federal Medicaid money last year, $260 million of which was directed to local hospitals. She added funding shortfalls would force them to consider cuts to public schools to help pay for Medicaid.

Joan Alker, executive director of the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families, said Medicaid should have been an issue in the November election.

"There was complete silence about it, despite the fact that it is the largest source of public coverage by far in the United States," Alker stressed. "It's also a very popular program with the voters of all political stripes."

Alker added some proposals in Congress call for nearly $2.5 trillion in cuts to Medicaid.