Public Health Watch is not a breaking-news outlet. Our investigative work is often on the news, however, and sometimes ahead of it. Let me explain.
Since 2022, we’ve been telling readers and radio listeners about the brutal impacts of life without health insurance, especially in Texas and the nine other states that refused to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (even though it made moral and economic sense to do so).
Sometimes, we wondered if our stories were reaching only policy nerds, activists and a few sympathetic politicians. But we kept going, with the support of The Commonwealth Fund and T.L.L. Temple Foundation.
Now, it seems, almost everyone cares about Medicaid, which is under threat of deep cuts as a result of the Trump administration’s “big, beautiful bill.” The legislation could cause nearly 12 million more people in America to become uninsured by 2034, the Congressional Budget Office says.
It’s our job to show you what the fraying safety net means in the real world. Our writer Kim Krisberg, in collaboration with Shalina Chatlani of Stateline, did just that in a powerful article on July 3, as part of our “Uninsured in America” project. Reporting from Lake Providence, Louisiana, one of the poorest pockets of the state, Krisberg and Chatlani wrote:
The Delta region, which includes communities in both Louisiana and Mississippi, would suffer under such large cuts. But in Louisiana — where almost half of the state depended on Medicaid in 2023, the Louisiana Department of Health reported — the cuts could be ruinous. Louisiana could lose up to $35 billion in federal Medicaid support over the next decade, according to KFF, a health policy research group.
They went on:
It’s a similar economic situation an hour away across the river. Poverty is about three times the national rate in Washington County, Mississippi, where residents in the city of Greenville lament the consequences of not being able to avoid costly and destructive medical debt, which can keep them stuck in a cycle of gig work and of living paycheck to paycheck.
Lake Providence Mayor Bobby Amacker summed things up this way:
“This town right here is made up of a lot of old people that need Medicaid and Medicare. And without it, they wouldn’t have any kind of health care at all.”
The piece drew strong reactions from readers, including Louisiana State Rep. Mandie Landry.
This story followed the PHW model: A marriage of data and narrative to lay bare the on-the-ground effects of policy choices made by people who don’t have to worry about paying for health care or putting food on the table.
We urge you to follow future installments of “Uninsured in America,” which was always important but has become downright essential in the wake of recent events.
