Medicaid Is A Federal And State Program

Medicaid is a joi8nt federal and state program. It provides health coverage to nearly 60 million Americans including children, pregnant women, seniors, and individuals with disabilities. As well as those people who are eligible to receive federally assisted income. Eligibility does however vary state to state.

The Medicare and Medicaid federal programs were put in place as a way to help the less fortunate. Individuals with severe disabilities or over the age of 65 qualify for Medicare. This program helps them with health coverage, so the disabled and elderly who have Medicare do not have to worry about their medical bills and not going to the hospital when they are sick. Medicaid is a similar program, however, it only applies to low income families who cannot provide for their children. Similar to Medicare, this program covers any health related problems and takes away the worry and troubles that come with hospital bills.

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 order to make insurance affordable to all there were extensive private health insurance regulatory reforms, particularly in the small group and non-group markets, there were tax credits offered to the smallest lowest-wage employers for the purchase of health insurance, there were reductions in cost-sharing associated with recommended preventive care. For example if you signed up with a fitness center you can get a 50% discount on your insurance. The market exchange was established for the purchase of private coverage plus subsidies for the individual purchase of coverage and for the cost-sharing of the modest income. “The affordable care act also expanded the eligibility for the Medicaid program to all non-elderly with incomes up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level ($23,000 to $32,000 for a family of four in 2012) starting in 2014, which helped phase out the Medicare prescription drug benefit coverage gap, a.k.a. the “doughnut hole”.” To make sure that everyone is complying with the rule of everyone needs to have healthcare coverage there was a penalty set up for those that failed to comply. The penalty was if you did not have insurance by the set date you will receive a tax penalty that you will have to pay when filling your taxes. There are financial requirements that large- and medium sized

The Medicare and Medicaid programs were signed into law on July 30, 1965 by President Lyndon Johnson ("Centers for Medicare," 2012). Before this decision was even taken into consideration, many other healthcare reforms had previously been introduced by earlier presidents, but failed to pass the Senate. Healthcare issues have always been on board for the United States, but during this time the elderly and the poor were desperately screaming for help. The government had no choice but to come up with a solution to their healthcare needs; these two

Medicaid initially established that each state is responsible for designing their medical costs to pay medical care for the poor. Also, Medicaid created as a voluntary program for each state; they have to have the choice to participate. For one thing, because of the rising costs of healthcare, it has been difficult to bring Medicaid recipients into the “mainstream” of United States (U.S.) medical care. Donald R. Barr notes, “between 1975 and 1989, the cost of the Medicaid program increased by an average of 11.9 percent per year before adjusting for inflation” (172). The rising costs of healthcare are necessary for each state to determine if it is beneficial for them to participate in the Medicaid program. As the government level of payment is determined by each state economic condition. For instance, a state with lower per capita income will receive more government funding. A state with higher per capita income receives less reimbursement for program costs. Therefore, on December 31, 2010, many states continued to experience budget cuts. As a result on August 2010, Congress increased reimbursement rates through June 2011.

Basically what Medicaid does is expand covering about 133 percent of the population close to the poverty line. This is significant because people above the poverty line that previously did not qualify, now they can be cover by Medicaid, including the lower middle class. The Federal Government is subsidizing this by giving the states the money to pay for everyone under the program, but they are afraid that the money is going to run out and they are going to be left out with the problem.

Medicare and Medicaid are two types of government insurance assistance that were put into place in order to give those that fall into certain categories receive medical care and have basic insurance. Although they are two separate programs, both managed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which is found under U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

| President Obama enacted the Affordable Care Act on March 23 2010. The objective of this law was to reform related to insurance to go on for four years and more regarding the comprehensive aspect of reform. This law has

In 2010, the federal government the Affordable Care Act, or more commonly known as “Obamacare.” This federal statute represented the largest and most significant regulatory overhaul and expansion to the healthcare system since Medicare and Medicaid were introduced in 1965. The ACA's major provisions appeared into power in 2014. By 2016, the uninsured portion of the population was cut roughly in half, with by the end of 2016, an estimated of between 20-24 million Americans additionally were covered with health insurance (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act). The increased healthcare coverage was caused, roughly

Medicaid provides a comprehensive benefit package for those who enroll. The federal government requires coverage of thirteen services, including inpatient and outpatient hospital services, nursing home and home health care, and for children under the age of twenty-one. The benefits do not end there, Medicaid offers a

The Medicaid program is jointly financed by the federal government and states. The federal government pays states for a specific proportion of program expenses, called the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP). FMAP varies by state based upon criteria such as per capita income. There are no intermediary like Medicare’s HMO and PPO, so payments are made directly to providers. Medicaid covers health insurance up to 400% of Federal Poverty Line for those who are under age 65 and poor and/or disabled through income and excise taxes. Elderly over age 65 who are poor are dual eligible for Medicare and Medicaid. There is an employer-based insurance (EBI) and cost share is between employees and employers.

Medicaid is one of the states' mandated health insurance program that is operated and financed by the federal and state government. It is the predominant source of funding for hospitals, community health centers, physicians and nursing home that provides for more than 74 million low-income children, pregnant women, adults, elderly, and people with disabilities in the nation (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2017). As of January 7, 1965, former President Johnson provided his first legislative message to the 89th Congress, about advancing the Nation’s Health through the Social Security Amendment that accommodates for seniors over the age of 65, children under the age of 19, and to the unfortunate (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2015).

Medicaid helps about 42 million people who are poor and who need health care services to attain healthy growth and development areas or encounter special health care needs. The Medicaid program covers low-income individuals who meet its eligibility standards, such as children, pregnant women, certain low-income parents, disabled adults, federal Supplemental Security Income recipients (low-income children and adults with severe disability), and the medically needy (non-poor individuals with unusual medical expenditures who meet spend-down requirements for long-term care). There is a good deal of changeability across states in the maximum income for eligibility. Medicaid is administered and financed jointly by the federal government and the states,

The concept of Medicare and Medicaid involves the federal government paying back physicians for taking care of the retirees, aged and the impoverished; this bill was passed in 1965. Although both Medicare and Medicaid started minutely to cover hospital and physician’s services; sporadically, the expenditure allocated to Medicare and Medicaid began to shoot up with time.