Medicaid saved… for now

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Round of applause for Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR) for leading the charge and passing a budget amendment shielding Medicaid—which provides health care for low-income mothers, children, and seniors—from cuts, at least for the time being.

I’ve talked about this before, but here are the quick facts: Medicaid’s costs aren’t rising any more rapidly than health care in general, it’s one of the most cost-effective ways to cover some of the most vulnerable Americans, and it’s become more expensive over the past few years mostly due to expanded enrollment—thanks to the awful job market—and not because of “inefficiency” or “waste.” Again, kudos to all those Republicans who voted sensibly here.

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

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