Medicaid cuts would devastate rural Texas communities

Healthcare access in rural Texas has continued to decline over the past decade as House Republicans in D.C. weigh cuts to Medicaid.

Medicaid and Medicare have provided poor Texans with a lifeline over the past half-century thanks to Texas native and former President Lyndon B. Johnson. The program’s future is now uncertain as Congressional Republicans work to implement Trump’s proposed spending cuts in D.C.

Medicaid first came into existence in 1965 as part of President Johnson’s Great Society programs that were part of what many Democrats called the “War on Poverty.” The bill established a public health insurance option for low income adults and children, with each state implementing their own version of the program. Medicaid is primarily funded by the federal government and Democrats further expanded the program with the Affordable Care Act in 2010.

Currently, the federal government provides up to 90% of matching funds for states that take advantage of the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion, however proposed Republican cuts to those matching funds could lead to over 30,000 deaths annually, according to an analysis by the Center for American Progress.

Texas already has some of the strictest requirements for Medicaid of any state and potential federal cuts threaten to restrict it further. While the White House has publicly come out against cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, it will not be mathematically possible to meet Trump’s spending reduction goals without some sort of cuts to the program.

"Nobody would be kicked off Medicaid as long as the governors decided that they wanted to continue to fund the program.” -Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga)

Several House Republicans have publicly floated the idea of reducing federal spending for Medicaid, which likely won’t affect residents in states controlled by Democrats. For Texans however, this will only further deteriorate what remains of our healthcare system. Texas Republicans have long-opposed Medicaid expansion and never took advantage of the additional funds provided by the Affordable Care Act to improve access or care, so it’s a safe assumption that they will not replace any lost federal funding that may result from Congressional Medicaid cuts.

Rural Texas is already in the midst of a healthcare crisis as more healthcare facilities close down or refuse to take Medicaid and South Texas has some of the highest percentages of Medicaid recipients. If the federal government cuts any Medicaid funding it will only exacerbate the healthcare crisis in the region, which will severely impact this state and country’s poorest residents.