Cornell Health Policy Center

The project will be one of the first major efforts of the Medicaid Policy Impact Initiative, a new cross-campus Cornell program aimed at supporting evidence-based policymaking in Medicaid.

Dr. William Schpero has seen firsthand how public policy drives patient outcomes at the population level, cementing a core idea that continues to guide his work as a health economist: that policy can be a powerful force for improving health equity — or, if poorly designed, a barrier to it. 

As states reassess Medicaid coverage following recent federal policy changes and the end of pandemic-era protections, researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine’s Department of Pediatrics, the Cornell Health Policy Center and Ariadne Labs are championing evidence-based health care policy reform and expanded Medicaid coverage for children. 

Most health policy experts don’t think new Medicaid work requirements introduced in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act would substantially increase employment among Medicaid-enrolled, working-age adults, according to a new survey from the Cornell Health Policy Insight Panel.