Medicaid provides seniors, children and people with disabilities with needed care

Medicaid provides vital health care coverage for children, seniors, people living with disabilities, and low-income adults. The Medicaid Team works to protect, strengthen and expand Medicaid in states across the country so it best serves our most vulnerable.

We focus on three key priorities:

1. Ensuring strong implementation of the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) expands Medicaid coverage to millions of uninsured low-income adults, but the Supreme Court's decision gave states the option of rejecting the expansion. This puts the health of the poorest and most vulnerable Americans in the hands of state government. Advocates are playing a critical role to help lawmakers understand the importance of Medicaid expansion for people who would be newly eligible. Community Catalyst offers expertise and support to advocates across the country to ensure their states take full advantage of this opportunity to make coverage affordable for more working families.
    
2. Protecting Medicaid from harmful cuts by promoting policies that reduce Medicaid costs while improving health care quality. Too often, budget cuts to Medicaid undermine access to needed health care for America's most vulnerable families. Community Catalyst fights to protect Medicaid from both federal- and state-level cuts by promoting the good Medicaid does for people and for economies, and by presenting policymakers with savings and revenue options to support Medicaid. We believe that by tackling the waste and inefficiencies inherent in our health care system as a whole, policymakers can achieve savings in Medicaid while maintaining or even improving patient care.
    
3. Improving Medicaid managed care. State governments are increasingly mandating Medicaid managed care, where the state hires a managed care company to provide Medicaid health benefits, rather than serving beneficiaries through traditional fee-for-service arrangements. At its best, Medicaid managed care provides opportunities for improved coordination, quality and efficiency of services. But it comes with risks for consumers, such as restricted access to needed care, that require vigilance and advocacy from organizations representing consumer interests. Community Catalyst helps guide advocates as they work for managed care that best serves consumers, with a special focus on seniors and people with disabilities.