More than 90% of Black people surveyed say Medicaid is critical amid the threat of cuts

Supporters are gathering outside the Hippodrome Theater in Richmond, Virginia, this summer to protest Medicaid cuts. Federal data shows that Medicare covers nearly two-thirds of births to black babies in the U.S., and congressional cuts to the program are already limiting reproductive health care in black and low-income communities. (Photo: Bert Shepherd/Courtesy of Protect Our Care PAC)

At least 90% of Black people surveyed in the modern survey said Medicaid is critical to them or their families, and more than half have public insurance or a family member using the program.

“Medicaid is critical to so many things when it comes to keeping us healthy and eliminating health disparities. Losing or weakening it could simply disproportionately harm our communities,” said Regina Davis Moss, president and CEO of In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda.

Davis Moss’ organization assigned the task to 10 states votewhich includes views from California, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, New Jersey, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia. The nonpartisan research firm PerryUndem conducted the study between May and June and interviewed 500 Black adults in every state.

The findings, shared exclusively with State Newsroom, show that a significant number of Black people who want to have children are not planning to have them yet due to costs and health care concerns.

The results were published the same several Planned Parenthood clinics which served low-income black patients, closed after the passage of a bill blocking certain reproductive health clinics affiliated with abortion providers from receiving Medicaid reimbursements until July 2026.

Planned Parenthood clinics in Louisiana, which had never offered abortions in their decades of operation, closed on September 30. Sixty percent of Baton Rouge and New Orleans patients were black and most have Medicaid insurance, United Newsroom reported. One of two Planned Parenthood locations in Memphis where over 60% of the population is blacktemporarily closed its doors the first week of October due to cuts to the Medicaid program, Tennessee Overlook reported.

“Proximity is important, and the fact that these clinics have to close means that people who need their services will go without them,” said Danielle Atkinson, executive director of Mothering Justice, a national advocacy group based in Michigan.

Four Planned Parenthood clinics in her state closed this spring after the Trump administration cut multimillion-dollar Title X family planning funding. Michigan Progress reported.

“They’re going to do without STI testing. They’re going to do without cancer screening. They’re going to do without counseling,” Atkinson said.

The Medicaid ban on certain reproductive health care providers was part of a larger plan reconciliation package which is also about to cut 1 trillion dollars with Medicaid more broadly over the next decade.

“Medicaid is a lifesaver for Black women, girls and genderqueer people,” Davis Moss said. State and federal program it accounts for almost two-thirds of black birthsaccording to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and nearly half of all births nationwide.

Maternal health advocates are preparing for this situation the impact of Medicaid cuts on labor and delivery unitswhich have been closing at a rapid pace for 10 years, especially in rural communities. A maternity ward in northeast Georgia, one of the states covered in the survey, will close at the end of the month, in part because of cuts to Medicaid, Registrar from Georgia reported in September.

The In Our Own Voice poll results also show that Black people of reproductive age – in this case, 18 to 44 years elderly – want to have children but do not plan to have them, citing the high cost of living.

California had the largest discrepancy of 28 percentage points: 56% want children, but only 28% plan to have them.

“I believe that some of the reasons they give are not new problems that we face, but are deeply concerning as they are exacerbated in the current administration,” Davis Moss said.

At least 69% of Black people surveyed in each of the 10 states said they were concerned about being able to care for children or more children than they already had, with at least 67% citing housing costs and 57% citing child care expenses.

“In many of these states, the cost of child care is higher than a year of tuition, which is a huge barrier to the ability to: first, enter the workforce, second, take advantage of the early intervention and early childhood education that truly sets children up for success, and third, provide individuals and families with career exploration and learning opportunities,” Atkinson said.

Abortion restrictions also played a role in family planning, although to a lesser extent. At least 45% said they did not want to have children because they or a loved one could die as a result of the pregnancy, 43% worried about care in the event of a miscarriage, and 30% said abortion bans kept them from expanding their families.

Three states included in the survey – Florida, Georgia and North Carolina – have abortion bans lasting longer than 20 weeks. Voters in California, Michigan and Ohio approved the decision reproductive rights amendments in recent years, which provided the right to abortion up to the viability of the fetus, while Nevada AND Virginia may have similar safeguards after the end of the interim period.

A majority of voters in each of 10 states believe that abortion should be legal in all or most cases, and at least 78% believe that black women should make pregnancy decisions that are best for them.

Overall, at least half of Black adults surveyed struggle with economic security. Black women of childbearing age were more likely than Black men to expect less safety throughout the remainder of President Donald Trump’s second term.

“As we prepare to celebrate our 250th anniversary, everything we have fought for and gained in civil and human rights is at risk like never before,” Davis Moss said.