Source: StateHealthFacts.org
Number of the Day: 41%
Medicaid has been in the news a lot lately. A new study was released yesterday showing the mental health and financial benefits experienced by recipients of Medicaid. Meanwhile, Medicaid continues to face big cuts in the ongoing debt ceiling talks.
With this in mind, we set out to take a quick look at the scope of Medicaid’s impact. We discovered Medicaid covers more than four in ten births in the United States. Surprised? We were, too. It amounts to about 1.68 million births a year out of the over four million annual births nationwide.
Looking at the state level, Medicaid covers 56% of births in Texas, 46% of births in California, and a stunning 70% of births in Louisiana.
1.68 million births is equivalent to the populations of San Francisco, Miami, and Minneapolis – combined. In fact, it’s larger than the populations of Phoenix, Philadelphia, Dallas, Jacksonville, Detroit, Boston, and every other city in the United States besides New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Houston.
The high percentage of births covered by Medicaid can be attributed in part to some states mandating broader eligibility criteria for pregnant women. Forty-one state Medicaid programs cover individuals above the minimum of 133% of the federal poverty level (FPL). Eighteen states allow 200% above FPL, while Iowa, Wisconsin, and D.C. permit those 300% above FPL to be eligible for Medicaid.
For more on the relationship between states and Medicaid, check out previous blog posts here.
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