Advocacy Pathway
Community Pediatrics
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
General Pediatrics
Health Services Research
Public Health
Highlighted Theme: Racism in Research and Medical Care
James Perrin, MD (he/him/his)
Professor of Pediatrics
MassGeneral Hospital for Children, Harvard Medical School
Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Medicaid and CHIP provide essential health insurance for low-income US children and youth, covering 40-50% of the US population under age 21. Medicaid innovations assure pediatric-specific benefits such as the EPSDT program. Yet, partly because of its focus on low-income people, Medicaid has lower payment rates than Medicare, treating Medicaid beneficiaries as meriting less than other citizens. Lower payment limits access to both primary and subspecialty care for many children and youth. Unlike Medicare, Medicaid funding comes from state and Federal sources, a liability when states face revenue shortfalls leading to benefit and eligibility cuts. Insofar as Medicaid recipients are disproportionately children and youth of color, the program perpetuates US racial inequities.
Substantive Medicaid reform can help eliminate child health disparities and structural racism. Is the time now to seek payment parity, make Medicaid universally available, transform it to fully federal funding, and strengthen the child-specific benefits with universal standards? The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recently made Medicaid reform a top priority, joining other pediatric groups calling for reform to achieve their missions. This momentum builds on ACA efforts to expand adult Medicaid coverage, as well as earlier universal children’s coverage proposals. The session first reviews Medicaid history and impact, followed by information from the recent NASEM report that addressed Medicaid funding for enhanced primary care. Discussion of earlier efforts at universal health coverage for children/youth will precede views of reform from a leading Medicaid scholar and the AAP This session will offer strategies to move Medicaid reform forward.
Speaker: James M. Perrin, MD – MassGeneral Hospital for Children; Harvard Medical School
Speaker: Tumaini R. Coker, MD, MBA – University of Washington School of Medicine/Seattle Children's
Speaker: Steve Berman, MD – University of Colorado School of Medicine
Speaker: Jocelyn Guyer, MPA – Manatt Health
Speaker: Mark Del Monte, JD – American Academy of Pediatrics
Speaker: Lisa J. Chamberlain, MD, MPH – Stanford University School of Medicine