FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, June 26, 2025
CONTACT: Daniel Flaming, danflaming@economicrt.org, (213) 892-8104
The Doctor is Out
Nationwide hospital closures and untreated health problems lie ahead
LOS ANGELES – The U.S. Congress is moving to reduce Medicaid funding, which pays for health care of one-fifth of U.S. residents. The impacts will weigh heavily on the quality of national medical care and the economy.
The Economic Roundtable report, “The Doctor is Out: Consequences of Cutting the Medicaid Lifeline,” details the human face of these cuts including: Medicaid recipients’ health conditions, causes for their admissions to hospitals and emergency departments, and the financial impacts of cutbacks on thin-stretched, community healthcare providers and the overall economy.
Over three million records of hospital use by Medicaid patients and an additional three-million person-level Census Bureau records for Medicaid recipients, including homeless individuals, were used to map the care provided by Medicaid. The data are broken out by state and for Los Angeles County.
- Childbirth and post-birth care: Medicaid pays for 41% of all childbirths in the United State. Nine percent of Medicaid newborns have serious medical conditions that often require immediate medical care to prevent life-long chronic problems. Medicaid pays for health care for 42% of children under 15.
- Emergency room care: Medicaid is the biggest payer for emergency department visits, preventing hospital insolvency for providing this mandated care.
- Homeless individuals: Medicaid pays for 77% of hospital care by homeless individuals. Most inpatient care is for mental health problems. These individuals and their communities are damaged if they are left to struggle by themselves on the street.
- Economic impacts: Half of the dollars for Medicaid services go the companies that supply direct health service providers. These dollars have a multiplier effect that is more than twice as big as the Medicaid dollars. The economic shrinkage from a 12% reduction in Medicaid funding would be equivalent to $701 a year for each U.S. resident.
- Hospitals and clinics: The U.S. already has a scarcity of hospital beds compared to other developed countries. Hospitals, clinics and nursing homes will disappear from many communities without Medicaid dollars.
- Medical debt: Medical debt causes bankruptcies and homelessness. Loss of Medicaid will increase these personal disasters.
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The Economic Roundtable is a nonprofit urban research organization based in Los Angeles that carries out large-scale data analyses to identify actionable solutions to social, economic and environmental problems. To learn more, please visit https://economicrt.org
