June 3, 2019-Can Medicaid handle another recession?

Medicaid is still feeling the pain of the Great Recession. The next recession could put a lot of pressure on the program

State spending on Medicaid is still stubbornly high, with no sign of ebbing, even though we are in the midst of the longest period of economic recovery in recent memory.

That was one of the remarkable findings in a forthcoming analysis from the Pew Charitable Trusts, which documents a “lost decade” for state finances after the Great Recession. In 2016, Medicaid accounted for 17.1 percent of state budgets, up from 14.3 percent in 2007, and that share has been rising, not falling, since the recovery began .Read more