Cuts to Medicaid and food aid will have biggest impact on women and children, experts say

Mississippi women and their children will be among those most harmed by recent federal cuts to social safety net programs, according to policy experts.

Mississippi is one of the poorest and most federally dependent states, and President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” includes the largest spending reductions to Medicaid and food assistance in history. Even sectors that don’t face direct cuts from the law, such as child care, will be heavily impacted by shifts in state budgets, experts say.

Women stand to lose the most from these changes, with effects on children, families, communities and businesses.

Changes to Medicaid disproportionately impact women, not only because women participate more often in the program – due to the wage gap and life events such as childbirth – but