Saving Medicaid — An Urgent SOS


Since then we have been striving to live up to the promise of ensuring all young people are able to reach healthy adulthood — laboriously trying to expand coverage to more children thousands by thousands, millions by millions, state by state. Today, thanks to Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and the Affordable Care Act (ACA), 95 percent of children in America have health coverage — a historic high. Medicaid has evolved to be an essential part of the coverage system for children, ensuring 37 million children the health coverage they need to survive and thrive, including 40 percent of all children with special health care needs, and covering more than 40 percent of all births. Medicaid plays a critical role for children with special health care needs — for example, providing services throughout childhood to an infant born with a heart condition or a child with autism. For families struggling to find the financial resources needed to care for their children with disabilities, Medicaid is a lifeline and often the only viable source of financing for their children’s extensive and expensive health care needs. For some children with complex health conditions, Medicaid supplements private health coverage to ensure them access as they grow to needed specialized medical equipment and devices such as hearing aids and wheel chairs. Medicaid is also a valuable source of preventive services, helping children get the well-child visits and screenings they need to support healthy development and prevent expensive complications later.