Law and Culture: The Big, Beautiful Bill and Black America

This week, the President signed what is being called by its supporters the "One Big, Beautiful Bill Act" (the Bill). The Bill has several implications that will negatively impact people of lower incomes and the middle class. For the sake of this article, I won't go through every single one, but I'll cover a few points that I think are relevant to how they will affect Black people. Two of the salient issues are healthcare and education. Communities that have access to proper healthcare and quality education are communities that thrive. Unfortunately, historically in the United States, Black communities have been given the short end of the stick for both issues. A final issue we’ll touch on briefly is the expansive change to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Let's dig into the Bill.

Healthcare
Some of the significant parts of the Bill, beyond cutting funding to Medicaid, include a work requirement for recipients of Medicaid. Although Black people make up 13% of the population, Black people make up 18.5% of Medicaid recipients. Cutting funding to such a robust program that gives a lot of necessary services could and will negatively impact Black recipients in disastrous ways. The work requirement may seem iniquitous at first glance, but when zooming out, there are plenty of people who simply may not have the ability to work. Those people, for years, have been fortunate enough to have access to Medicaid, which was helpful for their healthcare needs. Having a work requirement could mean that millions of people will simply not have Medicaid anymore once the Bill takes effect.

Another thing to know about the Bill is the impact on Planned Parenthood. The Bill doesn't mention Planned Parenthood specifically, but it cuts Medicaid payments to large healthcare nonprofits that offer abortions. This would include organizations such as Planned Parenthood. Of course, people go to Planned Parenthood for reasons outside of just abortions. They go for exams, information, and checkups, and a plethora of auxiliary reasons. On top of that, Planned Parenthood is a necessary organization when it comes to serving underserved communities. It has become an integral part of many people's healthcare routine, and this Bill further exacerbates an ongoing issue with access to quality healthcare.