Blacks and Latinos would be among those聽hardest hit if Medicaid funding were cut as part of a deficit-reduction package, according to released today by ,聽 the and the , among others.
In these communities, more than one in four聽people rely on Medicaid, the shared federal-state health program for the poor, compared with fewer than one in eight whites.
Blacks and Latinos are not only more likely than whites to suffer from chronic diseases such as diabetes, asthma and certain cancers, but they are also more likely to聽experience complications, to have聽poorer outcomes and to die prematurely from those conditions, according to the report.
鈥淲ithout Medicaid, many of these seriously ill people would not be able to afford the care they need. For them, Medicaid coverage is critical.聽 Federal or state cuts to the Medicaid program would truly put them at risk,鈥� the study warns.
The report comes as the debt deal鈥檚 super committee continues to meet on Capitol Hill, facing a Nov. 23 deadline to vote on聽recommendations to聽reduce the federal deficit by at least聽$1.2 trillion over the next decade.
The document鈥檚 findings include:
- Among blacks with cancer, more than one in five聽 is covered by Medicaid.
- More than one-third of blacks with聽chronic lung disease have Medicaid.
- Among Latinos with chronic lung disease, nearly聽two in five聽have Medicaid coverage.
- About a quarter of Latinos with diabetes and heart disease or stroke are covered by Medicaid.
According to the report, not having health insurance can contribute to poor health outcomes. In 2010, 20.8 percent of blacks and 30.7 percent of Latinos did not have insurance, compared to 11.7 percent of whites. If diseases like cancer, diabetes, asthma and heard disease aren鈥檛 detected early and managed appropriately, poor outcomes, medical complications and death are harder to prevent, the report states.