Medicaid, the health insurance program for low-income Americans that is jointly funded and administered by states and the federal government, is one of the most complex, consequential, and contested initiatives in contemporary U.S. politics. As the Trump administration’s voluminous tax-and-spending package advances through Congress, critical questions are being raised about how federal work requirements would affect state Medicaid recipient populations, what revised eligibility requirements would cost the government to institute, and what all of these proposed changes mean for public health and the national debt. And these questions call for the deployment of trustworthy, responsive expertise–to educate everyday people and legislative decision-makers alike.
Publicly engaged healthcare scholars from the network, convened by Phil Rocco (Marquette University) who led the first iteration of this group in 2019, have formed a 2025 Medicaid Working Group to collectively address questions around the potential effects of Medicaid policy change and funding cuts through media work and strategic outreach. The 2025 Medicaid Working Group was constituted in May of this year, and expects to operate over the course of the summer as the budget bill’s Medicaid provisions are discussed and voted on.
