Medicaid by Any Other Name? Investigating Malleability of Partisan Attitudes toward the Public Program

Medicaid is the largest health insurance program by enrollment in the United States. The program varies across states and across a variety of dimensions, including what it is called; some states use state-specific naming conventions, for example, MassHealth in Massachusetts.

In a preregistered online survey experiment (N = 5,807), the authors tested whether public opinion shifted in response to the use of state-specific Medicaid program names for the provision of information about program enrollment.

Replacing "Medicaid" with a state-specific name resulted in a large increase in the share of respondents reporting that they "haven't heard enough to say" how they felt about the program. This corresponded to a decrease in both favorable and unfavorable attitudes toward the program. Although confusion increased among all partisan groups, there is evidence that state-specific names may also strengthen positive perceptions among Republicans. Providing enrollment information generally did not affect public opinion.

These findings offer suggestive evidence that state-specific program names may muddle understanding of the program as a government-provided benefit. Policy makers seeking to bolster support for the program or claim credit for expanding or improving it may be better served by simply referring to it as "Medicaid."