Health Insurance & The Stimulus
18 01 08 - 11:52
By Cindy Zeldin | bio
As a component of the emerging economic stimulus package, Congressional Democrats are considering an increase in Medicaid matching funds to states. Congressional Republicans and the Bush Administration are reportedly cool to the idea, arguing that public spending on health care has little to do with rekindling the economy. The American public, I suspect, would beg to differ.
Medicaid is a countercyclical program: the need for Medicaid expands when the economy contracts and workers lose private health insurance coverage. Unfortunately for states, who jointly finance Medicaid and who also must balance their budgets, this greater need typically occurs as they experience declining tax revenues, hence the logic for the increased matching funds. But as public and media attention turns to the troubled economy, don't expect health care to be a mere sideshow. Americans intuitively and acutely get that health care and the economy are intimately intertwined, and that health insurance is not only about access to health care services, but also about economic security.
Voters of both political parties tell pollsters that health care is the top domestic issue they are concerned about, and they care most about reducing health care costs and expanding coverage. In a recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll, 41 percent of voters said they wanted to hear Presidential candidates talk about reducing costs while only 8 percent said they wanted to hear about reducing spending on Medicare and Medicaid. Luckily for progressives, the big three Democratic presidential contenders have all put forth detailed, thoughtful health plans worthy of the electorate’s thirst for action on health care (the spirited debate over mandates notwithstanding). So even if issues like Medicaid matching funds in the stimulus package or the battle over SCHIP are only a warm up for what we all hope will be a big push for comprehensive health reform next year, these are battles worth fighting. Progressives should stick to their guns on the issue of Medicaid matching funds, and also take this opportunity to make the case on the larger point: the economic indicators may point to the need for a targeted and temporary stimulus, but the signs of financial distress in family budgets point to long term challenges, and health care tops the list of anxieties.