Abstract
In Pennsylvania, Medicaid is a critical source of health insurance for people of color, far more so than for white persons. Currently, 38.7% of black or African American Pennsylvanians and 32.4% of Hispanics rely on Medicaid to pay their medical bills, compared to only 12% of white non-Hispanics. With the advent of national health care reform, Medicaid promises to take on an expanded role in opening doors to the health care system for people of color, by extending coverage to many who previously lacked insurance. But while Medicaid facilitates access to health care for those who might otherwise do without, some Medicaid policies fail to address and may even foster racial and ethnic disparities among its recipients. I first consider the impact on blacks or African Americans of some of Pennsylvania’s major decisions regarding payment for long-term care services for the elderly over the past three decades. I next examine some recent changes to Pennsylvania’s Medicaid program, and whom they impacted. Finally, I recommend that a racial impact statement accompany proposed policy decisions by the Medicaid agency and its major contractors.
Disciplines
Health Law and Policy
Date of this Version
August 2011
Recommended Citation
Campbell, Michael, "Did I Do That? An Argument for Requiring Pennsylvania to Evaluate the Racial Impact of Medicaid Policy Decisions Prior to Implementation" (2011). Working Paper Series. 166.
https://digitalcommons.law.villanova.edu/wps/art166
Comments
This paper has been published in 82 Temp. L. Rev. 1163 (2010)