Poverty & Income Support

Medicaid provides vital, affordable health coverage to over 60 million low-income individuals and people with disabilities, yet it is often targeted when policymakers seek to curb spending. Cuts to Medicaid, however, would restrict access to health services for the millions of Americans who rely on this coverage, including nearly 21 million adult women.  These women are far more likely to be poor, have poorer health, and lower educational attainment than women covered by private insurance.  Medicaid provides these low-income women with comprehensive health care that improves their health outcomes.

Congress faces a series of critical budget choices in the coming months, and must soon decide which federal income tax provisions set to expire at the end of this year should be renewed and which should end. This fact sheet explains how improvements in the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit benefit low-income families and should not be allowed to expire.