Medicaid Matters

The New York Times has an important article on the evolution of Medicaid partly illustrated by last week's turning point when, as part of criticizing the American Health Care Act of 2017,  voices were raised in defense of Medicaid from within the Medicaid population itself. As I have noted elsewhere, the true genius of the Affordable Care Act may have been in expanding Medicaid enough to help it obtain something it has always needed — a constituency. And, as I have also noted elsewhere, it is significant that they are Medicaid beneficiaries now and not merely Medicaid recipients.

Recipients recede into the shadows, beneficiaries form a constituency.