It warms my wonkish heart to see the media give more attention to Medicaid as a campaign issue. Bill Clinton considered the topic important enough to include in his speech on Wednesday evening. The complexity of our publicly financed health care system doesn’t lend itself to concise explanations, but Democrats need to start pointing out that plenty of middle-class families rely on Medicaid to care for elderly and disabled relatives. And they need to point out how Republican plans to slash Medicaid spending would almost certainly shift more of the financial burden of providing such care to families. Obama’s DNC speech acknowledged this threat only in passing. Here’s hoping he follows Clinton’s lead and hits the issue hard during the debates.
