title: The policy and political context of defending Medicaid.
abstract: Medicaid is often accused of devouring state budgets. In reality, it is a sharp decline in revenue that has precipitated the current state fiscal crisis, not the growth of health care spending. Nonetheless, in a climate of scarce resources, proponents of maintaining health coverage for low-income people through the Medicaid program face a complex challenge that requires them to think simultaneously about policy and building a political constituency for health care for the poor. At the same time, they must challenge the conventional wisdom that argues against raising taxes in times of economic weakness.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Miller
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D006233:Persons with Disabilities; D006291:Health Policy / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000191:economics*; D006801:Humans; D008484:Medicaid / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008875:Middle Aged; D011057:Politics; D011203:Poverty; D013221:State Health Plans / Q000191:economics* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D014481:United States