Medicaid currently covers over 3 million residents in Pennsylvania, primarily children, older adults, people with disabilities and low-income working individuals.
Becky Ludwick, vice president of public policy at Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children, called Medicaid an especially “important safety net” for military families and children.
“TRICARE is the primary coverage that military families have, but it often leaves gaps and have families needing to pay out of pocket,” she said. “Medicaid plays an important role to make sure that those gaps are filled.”
But she emphasized that the program does more than provide health insurance for individuals. It’s also a key source of funding for services such as mental and behavioral health care, school nurses, substance use treatment, community health centers, in-home care and nursing homes.
Rural hospitals, in particular, rely heavily on Medicaid to cover expenses for their services.
“Medicaid cuts would wreak havoc on the health systems in the rural parts of the state,” she said.