What is climate change? Human activities — primarily the burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and gas — are increasing the concentration of greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere, creating long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns. These shifts in our climate are causing floods, droughts, heat waves, and severe storms, among other impacts. We […]

 Committee, and House Budget Committee’s plans would make health coverage more costly and less comprehensive, increasing the number of people without health insurance. We also updated our resource tracking states’ unwinding from Medicaid continuous coverage. Chart of the Week — Hunger Greater Among People of Color, Reflecting Inequities      A variety of news outlets featured CBPP’s work and […]

itment to sharing in states’ Medicaid costs. By artificially capping Medicaid funding regardless of the health care needs of people in each state and by providing states with new flexibilities to curtail offered health services and/or eligibility, these proposals would result over time in fewer people being enrolled and in enrollees likely having less-robust coverage. […]

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is the nation’s most important anti-hunger program. This chart book highlights some key characteristics of the 41 million people using the program in a typical month, trends and data on program administration and use, and data on SNAP’s effectiveness in fighting food insecurity and poverty and improving health, education, […]

Deficits (or surpluses), debt, and interest are three central budget concepts. For any given year, the federal budget deficit is the amount of money the federal government spends minus the amount of revenue it takes in. The deficit drives the amount of money the government must borrow in any single year, while the debt is […]

Many Medicaid participants use an online portal to apply for the program and access their accounts. Some state Medicaid agencies require or prompt applicants to verify their identity, a process known as identity proofing, as part of securing online access. Agencies may do this with the intention of protecting applicants’ privacy and system security, as well […]

Deeply damaging health coverage proposals recently advanced by Republican congressional leaders and conservative think tanks could gain traction in Congress next year. Cutting Medicaid would harm enrollees — including the millions of children, people with disabilities, and elderly people with low incomes who are covered by Medicaid — and increase health inequities.Medicaid helps children develop into […]

Recently at CBPP, we focused on poverty and inequality, climate change, health, and the economy. Chart of the Week — Income Gains at the Top Dwarf Those of Low- and Middle-Income Households    A variety of news outlets featured CBPP’s work and experts this past week. Here are some of the highlights: Federal health care dollars […]