In Case You Missed It...

This week at CBPP, we focused on health, housing, the federal budget and taxes, state budgets and taxes, food assistance, and the economy.

On health, Aviva Aron-Dine, Chye-Ching Huang, and Samantha Washington explained that if the lawsuit to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) were successful, it would cut taxes for the most well-off while ending coverage for millions. Matt Broaddus and Aron-Dine cited new research that Medicaid expansion has saved at least 19,000 lives. Aron-Dine also summarized these and other findings on the benefits of Medicaid expansion. Broaddus pointed out that expansion drove a large drop in uncompensated care. Paul N. Van de Water noted that an executive order from the Trump Administration, along with other actions it’s taken or proposed, would weaken Medicare. We updated our chart book highlighting the far-reaching benefits of Medicaid expansion. We also posted an explainer on the ACA lawsuit.
On housing, Peggy Bailey testified before the Senate Banking Committee on improving access to housing assistance for youth exiting foster care. Ahead of Veterans Day, Will Fischer emphasized that rental assistance shortages leave 700,000 veterans homeless or struggling to afford housing.
On the federal budget and taxes, Richard Kogan and Joel Friedman noted that automatic reconciliation is an undesirable part of a budget process bill from Senators Mike Enzi and Sheldon Whitehouse. We created interactive state fact sheets showing how the Working Families Tax Relief Act would boost incomes, improve children’s prospects, and reduce poverty.
On state budgets and taxes, we posted a backgrounder explaining the constraints that Taxpayer Bills of Rights impose.
On food assistance, we updated our chart book showing how SNAP helps hungry families put food on the table.
On the economy, we updated our backgrounder on how many weeks of unemployment compensation are available, as well as our chart book tracking the post-Great Recession Economy.