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GOP health care overhaul debate results in stronger medicaid

Washington DC — Medicaid, a 1960s Great Society pillar long reviled by conservatives, seems to have emerged even stronger after the Republican failure to pass health overhaul legislation.

The federal-state health insurance program for low-income Americans hasn't achieved the status of Social Security and Medicare, considered practically untouchable by politicians, like an electrified "third rail."

But it has grown to cover about 1 in 5 U.S. residents, ranging from newborns to Alzheimer's patients in nursing homes, and even young adults trying to shake addiction.

Middle-class working people are now more likely to personally know someone who's covered. Increased participation - and acceptance - means any new GOP attempt to address problems with the Affordable Care Act would be unlikely to achieve deep Medicaid cuts.

"This was an important moment to show that people do understand and appreciate what Medicaid does," said Matt Salo, executive director of the National Association of Medicaid Directors, a nonpartisan group that represents state officials.

"The more people understand what Medicaid is and what it does for them, the less interested they are in seeing it undermined."

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