Medicare and Medicaid: Origins, Current State and Future Implications-WEB01-2026

Video Transcription

Video Summary

This RSNA webinar, featuring Dr. Amy Patel and Alen Marquez from the AAMC, offers a comprehensive overview of Medicare and Medicaid—covering their origins, current status, and future impacts, especially under the recent One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed in 2025. Medicaid, a joint federal-state program providing coverage to low-income and disabled Americans, covers about 77.7 million people and has expanded through the ACA to include more adults, despite ongoing coverage gaps. Medicare serves mainly seniors and disabled persons, with 69.4 million beneficiaries, funded by government, payroll taxes, and premiums.<br /><br />The webinar highlights positive outcomes from Medicaid and Medicare expansions, such as reduced mortality and improved preventive care, but also details fiscal challenges, with Medicaid accounting for 9% of the federal budget and Medicare projected to exhaust the Part A Trust Fund by 2033. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act aims to reduce federal spending—cutting Medicaid by $840 billion over a decade—but risks decreasing coverage access, increasing administrative burdens, and pressuring provider payments, especially affecting rural hospitals, academic medical centers, private practices, and dual-eligible patients.<br /><br />AAMC emphasizes the disproportionate care burden borne by its member academic hospitals, which face negative Medicare margins, and stresses advocacy for protecting patient access, graduate medical education funding, and the healthcare safety net. Private practice radiologists face consolidations and financial stress due to reimbursement cuts. The speakers urge engagement with government relations teams to navigate these challenges and advocate sustainably for health system support and patient care access.

Keywords

Medicare

Medicaid

One Big Beautiful Bill Act

AAMC

ACA expansion

federal budget

healthcare access

academic medical centers

private practice radiologists