July 16, 2026 - American Academy of Pediatrics President Andrew D. Racine, MD, PhD, FAAP, and Jonathan H. Gruber, PhD, break down the short- and long-term impacts of cuts to Medicaid unfolding under a law enacted by Congress in a new viewpoint published in the journal JAMA this week. Medicaid serves as the largest public health insurance program in the United States, covering 85 million people – including 40 million children.
In the article, “Cutting Medicaid for Children—A Bet Against the Future,” the authors explain how gutting Medicaid reduces children’s well-being by limiting its reach as an insurance vehicle for children, a move that in turn strains family incomes. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) over the course of the next 10 years will reduce Medicaid spending by close to $1 trillion, constituting the largest cuts in the program’s history, according to the authors.
“There is not a neonatal intensive care unit, not a pediatric intensive care unit, nor a pediatric inpatient service in the US that can function in the absence of support from Medicaid,” the article states. “A policy that undermines the financial integrity of millions of US households while simultaneously threatening the viability of health care delivery for children by way of costing US residents tax dollars over the long term is a bet against the future: a true lose-lose proposition.”
The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 67,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults.
Source: American Academy of Pediatrics
