Here’s how the AAFP is fighting to protect Medicaid

In fact, as lawmakers accelerate their activity, it’s crucial that AAFP members join our call to action.  

Last weekend, the House Energy and Commerce Committee released a budget reconciliation package that included nearly $715 billion in proposed reforms to Medicaid. These changes include onerous patient burdens such as work requirements, increased cost-sharing and more frequent eligibility checks — all potential barriers to care access. 

We, along with numerous other societies within the house of medicine, have already shared our serious concerns about this package and the impacts it will have on patient care. As we put it in testimony this past winter, “If we want to truly improve our nation’s health to optimize longevity, it must start with investing in Medicaid and other safety-net supports — not cutting them.” 

Our Medicaid advocacy centers on the simple idea that Congress must protect this essential program, not diminish it. The majority of AAFP members treat patients covered by Medicaid (in which some 72 million Americans are enrolled), and the program is central to ensuring the greatest possible access to primary care. 

With that idea in mind, and with several related AAFP policy priorities in play, the Academy is in touch with key lawmakers in the House Energy and Commerce Committee, among other committees. We are working to shape legislation beneficial to family medicine practices and patients. 

We are conducting this advocacy via direct outreach and meetings with representatives, as well as continued engagement through our coalitions. AAFP members have also written sharp opinion columns for newspapers in their home states, visible to their members of Congress, their fellow constituents and their patients. As we pointed out with the link above, it is so important for more AAFP members to echo these urgent messages.  

Medicaid serves patients across the lifespan — as family physicians do. By providing health care coverage to patients who often lack other options, Medicaid helps family physicians work with patients through a wide array of wellness goals and health challenges, including preventive care, mental health concerns and chronic-disease management. This is complex labor, and it demands robust federal support. The Academy is committed to securing that partnership.