Medicaid, a federal-state partnership program, provides health care coverage to more than 50 million people – mainly children, women and the disabled – across the country. Medicaid beneficiaries make up more than 1/4 of the outpatient visits and more than 1/3 of the discharges at NAPH member hospitals. This is in addition to the more than 30 percent of our ambulatory care patients and nearly 20 percent of our inpatients who are uninsured. Yet, Medicaid is facing multiple legislative threats in the 112th Congress. Lawmakers are considering legislation that would allow states to substantially reduce eligibility, potentially endangering coverage for millions of beneficiaries.
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