Capri Cafaro, American University School of Public Affairs
As states begin to plan budgets, the future of Obamacare is still undecided. A former Ohio state senator explains how budget directors are bracing for billions of dollars in shortfalls.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell at an Aug. 1 press conference, the first he held after the defeat of his health care bill.
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
With Obamacare in peril and no health care plan in sight, it’s logical to ask whether states could design their own single-payer health insurance plans. Efforts in California show why it’s unlikely.
As more and more seniors need care, their budgets will be strained. As a result, they may rely on Medicaid.
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Medicaid, a state-federal entitlement program that people associate only with the poor, pays for care for more than six in 10 nursing home residents. That could be you, or someone you love.
Losing welfare benefits when they’re between jobs can plunge nursing home aides into extreme economic hardship.
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Only very low-income Americans who are working or looking for work are eligible for federal, time-limited welfare dollars. This restriction doesn’t always help them get back on their feet.
Sen. Rand Paul speaks at a news conference on Capitol Hill.
AP Photo/Andrew Harnik
It turns out a unified government isn’t enough to get bills passed.
North Carolina NAACP President Rev. William Barber, accompanied by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, Texas, left, as activists, many with the clergy, are taken into custody by U.S. Capitol Police on Capitol Hill in Washington, July 13, 2017, after protesting against the Republican health care bill.
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
Almost nine million women gained insurance coverage from the Affordable Care Act. Here’s why women could be set back by Republican bills to undo the ACA.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who announced June 27 that a vote on the Senate health care bill has been delayed until after the July 4 recess.
Carolyn Kaster/AP
The health care bill proposed by Senate Republicans was little better than the House version, which begs an important question: Who’s driving health care law – a free market or insurance companies?
Larissa Pisney of Denver protests outside the Aurora, Colorado offices of Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colorado) to show her displeasure with efforts to dismantle the ACA.
David Zalubowski/AP
Cutting back or cutting out social safety net programs, as the Senate and House health care proposals would do, is rare. Here’s a look at how such actions have fared.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) smiles after he unveiled the Senate health care bill on June 22, 2017.
Scott Applewhite/AP
The Senate released its new health care bill on June 22, 2017, and it differs slightly from a bill passed by the House in May. Read what our experts have written in recent months about key pieces.
Nurse Jane Kern administers medicine to patient Lexi Gerkin in Brentwood, New Hampshire. Lexi is one of thousands of severely disabled or ill children covered by Medicaid, regardless of family income.
Charles Krupa/AP
As Republicans seek to repeal Obamacare, they have added an overhaul of Medicaid to their plans. Here’s a look at the program and the surprising number of people who would be affected by cuts.
The Trump administration wants to shrink the safety net.
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David Campbell, Binghamton University, State University of New York and Kristina Marty, Binghamton University, State University of New York
The best way to assess a program’s effectiveness is see how well it meets the goals for which it was created. Maybe someone could tell the Trump administration.
President Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan, to his left, celebrating the House passage of the AHCA on May 4.
Evan Vucci/AP
The CBO analysis of the new health care bill not only shows that tens of millions would lose insurance. It is a major shift in this country’s attitudes and policies toward helping the poor.
President Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan after the House passed a bill to repeal Obamacare and cut back Medicaid funding.
Evan Vucci
The health care bill recently passed by the House imposes big cuts to the underfunded Medicaid program. A new approach is needed, starting with the best ideas of both parties.
Smoking kills close to 440,000 people in the U.S. each year.
California Department of Health Services
While many groups of people stand to lose health insurance benefits under the new health care bill, smokers would be particularly harmed. Here’s how cutbacks in cessation programs could harm them.
House Speaker Paul Ryan at a March 7, 2017 unveiling of the new health care bill called the American Health Care Plan.
Susan Walsh/AP
Republicans vow to dismantle Obamacare, which extended health insurance to about 20 million people. Republicans’ new plan has been roundly criticized. Here is expert analysis to help you sort it out.
Melva Watt, right, senior Medicaid interviewer, assists a patient with her application for Medicaid through the New York State Marketplace.
Julie Jacobson/AP
House Speaker Paul Ryan called the new health care proposal an ‘act of mercy.’ The bill could help the healthy and wealthy, but it is unlikely to be merciful to the poor.
Medical students protest outside the office of Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) to express their views on changes to Obamacare.
Tony Dejak/AP
Republicans have tried dozens of times to repeal Obamacare, but their biggest challenge has been the lack of a workable replacement plan. Here’s an idea devised by two health economists.
Inmates wait to enter an assigned cell block at the Deuel Vocational Institution in Tracy, California.
AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File
Repealing a legal provision that excludes people in prison or jail from Medicaid could improve access to treatment, save state and local governments money and reduce recidivism.
A patient who relied on Medicaid and a nurse in Mississippi.
Jonathan Bachman/REUTERS
President Trump has proposed a major funding shift for Medicaid, the joint federal-state program that pays for health care for about 75 million poor people. Would the safety net fray if he did so?
Quintiles Professor of Pharmaceutical Development and Regulatory Innovation, Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics, University of Southern California