The existing entitlement structure of Medicaid is essential to its ability to provide reproductive services to low-income women and women of color. Legislative proposals for “block grants” or “funding caps” would dangerously undermine the entitlement structure. Women of reproductive age experience a variety of health disparities, and heavily rely on Medicaid to prevent unintended pregnancies, provide screenings and treatments for STIs, HIV/AIDS, and breast and cervical cancer, and maintain healthy pregnancies. By converting Medicaid into a block-granted program or one with caps in federal spending, the poorer states would lose the most in federal matching funds for reproductive health services. As a result, existing reproductive health disparities impacting low-income women and women of color would be exacerbated.
