Future Caucus legislators create bipartisan coalitions to address key healthcare issues. They commit to sustained engagement across the partisan divide to deliver results.
In 2021, health expenditures accounted for over 17% of the nation’s gross domestic product. That year, an estimated 69 million individuals (21.1% of the U.S. population) received Medicaid, a joint federal-state program that finances the delivery of medical and health services to low-income individuals, or CHIP (The State Children’s Health Insurance Program), a health program to expand Medicaid coverage to certain low-income children and pregnant women. While these are important programs, lawmakers have opportunities to both invest in their success and consider additional ways to support public health. In recent years, legislators have led bipartisan efforts to support mental health, promote food as medicine, create support systems for children and families, and respond to urgent crises such as the opioid epidemic. Social determinants of health, the conditions in which people are born, grow, and live are also critical contributors to health and a ripe opportunity for legislators to build the foundations of health early on in a person’s life.
Bipartisan opportunities for 2024
Mental illnesses are common in the United States. It is estimated that more than one in five U.S. adults live with a mental illness (57.8 million in 2021). In addition, the number of adolescents reporting poor mental health is increasing. In 2021, more than 4 in 10 (42%) students felt persistently sad or hopeless and nearly one-third (29%) experienced poor mental health. In 2021, more than 1 in 5 (22%) students seriously considered attempting suicide, and 1 in 10 (10%) attempted suicide. In an annual Medicaid survey, all responding state agencies reported at least one initiative to expand behavioral health care in Medicaid in 2021-22.
People’s ability to secure and consume healthful diets has impacted the accessibility and affordability of nutritious foods in their community. Lack of food access can lead to food insecurity, being unable to acquire enough food to meet the needs of all members of a household because of insufficient money or other resources for food. In 2021, 10.2 percent (13.5 million) of U.S. households were food insecure.
Only 25 percent of workers in the United States have access to paid family leave through their employers. Those that do have access to paid family leave tend to also earn higher wages. In March 2021, only 6 percent of private industry workers with an average wage in the lowest 10 percent had access to paid family leave, compared with 43 percent of workers with an average wage in the highest 10 percent. Paid family leave is of relevance to young voters, who may be facing the need to care for children, parents, or both. It is a popular policy issue with voters overall, with 4 in 5 Americans supporting paid time off for caregiving responsibilities. There is bipartisan support for comprehensive paid family leave at both the federal and state level. Many states across the country have implemented paid leave initiatives, with sixteen states and the District of Columbia having enacted paid family leave laws.
The U.S. continues to fall behind in protecting the health of women and pregnant people, with recent data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics indicating the problem is worsening. Between 2018 and 2021, maternal mortality increased from 17.4 per 100,000 births to 32.9 per 100,000 births. Maternal mortality is of particular concern for non-Hispanic Black women. In 2021, the maternal mortality rate for Black women was 2.6 times the rate for non-Hispanic White women. Rural women also experience higher rates of maternal mortality, due to higher uninsured rates, rural hospital closures, maternity care provider shortages, and pre-existing unmet health needs.
Nearly 75% of drug overdose deaths in 2020 involved an opioid, killing nearly 69,000 people. This has devastating effects across multiple state levels of systems, including health care, public safety, and child protective services.
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