Potential Medicaid Reductions Could Cause Over 16,500 Preventable Deaths Annually

A recent study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine highlights the significant health risks associated with proposed Medicaid budget cuts being considered by Congress. These potential reductions in Medicaid funding could adversely impact enrollment, increase the number of uninsured individuals, and lead to a rise in preventable deaths. Experts identify six major areas of proposed cuts, including lowering the Medicaid matching floor, reducing funding for the ACA Medicaid expansion, implementing per capita caps, enforcing work requirements, decreasing provider taxes, and repealing recent Medicaid eligibility changes. Each of these cuts could individually result in an annual increase of between 651 and 12,626 preventable deaths, along with a rise in the number of uninsured Americans by hundreds of thousands to nearly four million. If the current House bill, which incorporates several of these cuts, is enacted, it could cause nearly 7.6 million more individuals to lose insurance coverage, 1.9 million to lose their personal healthcare providers, and 16,642 preventable deaths annually. The authors warn that while these measures aim to reduce federal spending and provide tax benefits primarily to wealthy taxpayers, they pose serious threats to low-income populations. They emphasize the importance of weighing the potential health and financial harms of Medicaid cuts against the intended economic benefits, urging policymakers to consider the broader impact on vulnerable communities.