Benefits And Consequences Of Medicaid

Medicaid is a social health care program that covers nearly 60 million Americans, including children, pregnant women, seniors, parents and individuals suffering with disabilities. Medicaid is the biggest source of funding for health related services and medical needs for the people with low income in the United States. This program is funded jointly by the state and federal level governments, but it is the state’s responsibility to manage this program. The Medicaid program is not a required program that states have to use, but all 50 states have implemented this program. With the introduction of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and its passing in 2010, the ACA unveiled its plans to expand Medicaid eligibility to nearly all low-income adults as an addition to the other groups that fall into the Medicaid eligibility. The Medicaid program had “many gaps in coverage for adults” because it was only restricted to the low income individuals and other people with needs in their own specific category. In the past, the majority of the states who had adults that did not have children dependent on those parents were not eligible for Medicaid. These low income adults without dependent children would be without medical insurance assistance before the ACA was introduced. Medicaid is now available to all Americans under the age of 65 whose family income is at or below the federal poverty guideline of “133 percent or $14,484 for an individual and $29,726 for a family of four in 2011” (NSCL).

In 2009 there were 50.7 million people, 16.7% of the population, without health insurance. Americans all over the country are working and yet they still can’t afford to pay the high cost of health insurance for themselves and their families. Under the Affordable Care Act of 2010, which was signed by Obama on March 23, 2010, thirty two million Americans who were previously not eligible for Medicaid may now have the opportunity to be covered. If this act is passed in North Carolina then it will be expanded to cover nearly all of the 1.5 million North Carolinians who are without health insurance. If more Americans are covered under the Medicaid that they need then

One of the main components that had given the Affordable Care Act issues with the uninsured rate in the United States is the growth of the Medicaid program. The Affordable Care Act granted all 50 states billions of dollars in federal financial aid to increase their Medicaid program to insure people who made up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level. Starting at the beginning of 2016, the federal government reduced its federal aid, covering less than 10 percent of what was promised, which ended up putting more of the responsibility of insuring Medicaid qualified Americans on the states. This caused a fallout of state governors being against ObamaCare, resulting with having 21 states declining any federal funding or expands their

The Affordable Care Act promotes Medicaid expansion. Medicaid expansion is needed in North Carolina to insure the disabled and those that live below the poverty level receive adequate healthcare coverage. The resistance of North Carolina legislature in the promotion of Medicaid reform has retarded Medicaid expansion to its uninsured residents. The cooperation of the North Carolina legislature and its support of the Affordable Care Act is necessary for successful Medicaid reform. This paper reviews the impact of the Affordable Care Act 's lack of implementation in North Carolina.

As a health policy analyst for the state of Texas which has not elected to expand Medicaid as part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and now has been notified that the state leaders have taking into reconsideration their recent decision during an upcoming session in order that we begin gathering data on the benefits of adapting the Medicaid expansion. As a health policy analyst our goal is to assure data quality, interpret data, and discover new information in the data. Medicaid is a federal and state partnership with shared authority that is a health insurance program for low-income individuals, children, their parents, the people with disabilities and the elderly. Nationally Medicaid covers health care for over 72 million people. Even though participation is optional, all 50 states participate in the Medicaid program. However, Medicaid benefits eligibility varies widely among the states all states must meet federal minimum requirements, but they have options for expanding Medicaid beyond the minimum federal guideline (http://www.ncsl.org/research/health/affordable-care-act-expansion.aspx). In this research we will identify the state of interest which is Texas, compare the state’s decision, determine the alternate approaches to expanding access and provide a recommendation on whether or not the state should opt in to the Medicaid expansion.

The enactment of the ACA in 2014 would make it possible for more working and nonworking parents to qualify for Medicaid. Based on the income levels, 51% of working and 37% of nonworking parents qualified for Medicaid prior to the ACA. Afterwards, the percentage increased to 138% for working and nonworking parents, and childless individuals. The projections showed a 38% increase in the number of children 6-18 eligible for Medicaid coverage and fewer on the North Carolina’s Health Choice insurance plan. This increase would have been huge based on the case study (Short, 2013). State officials chose not to go with the Medicaid expansion program, and instead offered marketplace exchanges. This could mean North Carolina would potentially have a large number of uninsured

For those states that decided to take part in the Medicaid expansion it would help adults that were living under the poverty line. Many of these adults did not have jobs that offered them health insurance or they struggle to even pay the bills to just barely get by, and therefore health insurance is one of the last things on their mind when it comes to having that or being able to have electricity or even putting food on the table, they are not able to just go and be able to pick out health insurance for themselves and their family because they live below the poverty line. Officials promised that individuals who liked their currents plans would be able to keep them but it turned out that was not the case because many current plans of insurance did not meet the standards that the Affordable Care Act made. Again employers had to change their plans to fit the standards, premiums shot up and many of the plans had more coverage then what most people needed- meaning they had to pay higher copays and deductibles. They would use the marketplace to find the details of the types of plans that were being offered. States that choose not to participate in the expansion of Medicaid still would not have the people who lived in between the 100%-138% level of income on the federal poverty would be able to be granted subsidies but these subsidies might not cover their entire monthly cost for their health insurance, or their premium. Because of this though there is less on an incentive for people to go out and buy insurance on their own. “With fourteen states opting out, we estimate that 3.6 million fewer people would be insured, federal transfer payments to those states could fall by $8.4 billion, and state spending on uncompensated care could increase by $1 billion in 2016, compared to what would be expected if all states participated in the expansion.”(Polycin, 2009). For the

With the implementation of the ACA, many states have expanded their Medicaid programs to include a larger population of low income individuals and families that were not able to obtain health insurance prior to the law. Some of the issues that state legislators struggle with are the overall cost of providing services for the additional recipients, staying within budget, determining an adequate approach of offering quality care, and providing adequate coverage for each recipient. Even though the cost of Medicaid expansion within each state has increased the budget for the program, new appraisals has shown that Medicaid programs spend less per enrollee than commercial health insurance and much of the increase in Medicaid expenses originate from the increase in enrollment in the programs (Coughlin, Long, Clemens-Cope, & Resnick, 2013).

Currently, Medicaid expansion has been implemented to cover individuals up to 138% of the federal poverty level. It fills in the coverage gap between individuals whose income is too high to qualify them for Medicaid but too low to purchase a healthcare plan on the exchange market. This policy has provided health insurance to millions more of Americans, created jobs

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) highlighted the importance Medicaid played in insuring every American receive healthcare coverage. (42 U.S.C., 2010) Medicaid provides health benefits to over 71 million across the country. While involvement is optional, all 50 states participate in the program and requirements differ across the nation. The flexibility given to each state has allowed them to make their own decisions to work towards improvements that they believe would best benefit their region (Feldstein, 2015, p. 125-126).

States are being pressured to expand Medicaid to families earning up to $30,000 a year, just like the Affordable Care Act permits. While several respected governors have agreed to expand the program, many other governors and state legislators are cautious. These officials do not want to deny Americans their access to health care, however they do want to slow the expansion of a program that will provide them with limited access to quality care while destroying state budgets. One of the strongest arguments that can be made against the expansion of Medicaid is the fact that States simply can not afford it. The appeal to states to expand Medicaid is that the federal government will cover 100% of the cost through 2016 and eventually lowering to

In 1965, President Johnson signed Title XIX of the Social Security Amendments, which enacted Medicare and Medicaid (CMS, n.d.). Now, Medicaid is the single largest publically funded health coverage in the United States. The Medicaid program is federally and state funded. Currently, Medicaid covers 70 million Americans. Over 33 million children, 19 million low-income adults, and 16 million elderly or disabled persons are insured through the program. Medicaid also provides assistance to select Medicare beneficiaries, which is currently about 10 million individuals. Long-term care assistance is also a role of Medicaid, with 1.5 million institutional and 2.9 million community-based residents assisted. As visualized in Figure 1, of the almost 70

The Medicaid program is a federal health insurance program for the under-privileged and incapacitated. The plan is managed by states within comprehensive limits instituted by the federal government. Together the federal and state governments finance the program, with the federal share ranging from 50 percent to 74 percent. Now Medicaid currently makes up 7 percent of the federal budget and 23.7 percent of all state expenses. Approximately sixty million people are enrolled in the Medicaid program and 400 million is spent annually.

I agree with you, Medicaid has provided coverage to individuals and families with low incomes and few resources. In fact, Medicaid coverage includes various other programs for the betterment of the people such as the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment (ESPDT), The Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act (TWWIIA) of 1999 and The New Freedom Initiative. For instance, CHIP offers health insurance coverage for uninsured children. EPSDT offers healthcare benefits like prevention, early detection, and treatment to children under age twenty-one. TWWIIA provides healthcare services to workers with disabilities. The New Freedom Initiative reduces barriers to full community integration

Medicaid is both an extremely important and costly government program. The program provides medical care for those who cannot afford it and also for the elderly and the disabled. Over 69 million people were provided medical assistance through Medicaid in the fiscal year of 2011 (Herz). Medical attention is very expensive but is also something that every human being needs. Some people are individually wealthy enough to afford medical insurance. Most people are provided medical insurance through their employer. So what are those people who are unemployed and not independently wealthy supposed to do? If you have no job you have no insurance through your employer