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University of Wisconsin–Madison
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty

Medicaid Coverage

As Medicaid loses stigma, election may cloud its future, By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar (AP), October 24, 2016, Philadelphia Inquirer: “Medicaid, often stigmatized among government health care programs, is finally coming into its own.  The federal-state program for low-income people has been scarcely debated in the turbulent presidential election, but it faces real consequences depending on who wins the White House in the Nov. 8 vote.  Under President Barack Obama, Medicaid has expanded to cover more than 70 million people and shed much of the social disapproval from its earlier years as a welfare program. Two big industries – insurers and hospitals – have a declared stake in the future of the program, which costs more than $530 billion a year. Insurers are leading a new ‘Modern Medicaid Alliance’ to educate lawmakers about how the program has moved closer to private coverage…”