Was Live Friday, Aug 10, 2024 | 11am PST
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Guest Speakers
- Katherine Hempstead, Senior Policy Adviser at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
- Stan Dorn, Director of the Health Policy Project at UnidosUS
- Martha Sanchez, Health Policy and Advocacy Director at Young Invincibles
- Joan Alker, Executive Director and Co-Founder of the Center for Children and Families and Research Professor at Georgetown University
Event Overview
The nation’s largest health insurance program, Medicaid currently provides free or low-cost coverage to more than 83 million people in the US. But approximately 23 million—including 3 million children—have lost or stand to lose coverage due to the end of pandemic-era continuous coverage protections, also known as “the great unwinding.” Of the 23 million people who will lose or have lost coverage, 69 percent have been disenrolled not because they were ineligible, but because of paperwork and procedural technicalities.
Expanding Medicaid to close the coverage gap is one of the most significant ways states can increase coverage rates and achieve health equity, particularly after the unwinding. Yet 10 states, largely in the South, still choose not to expand their Medicaid programs under the Affordable Care Act. These states have some of the worst health inequities in the country.
Speakers this week discuss how to strengthen the Medicaid program to provide equitable health coverage to all and why states must act to close the coverage gap that disproportionately affects communities of color.
