Does Medicaid still works today?
Medicaid is the public health insurance policy cover for individuals who earn the least in the country. Many of the people covered suffer from very expensive medical conditions that they cannot afford to cater for themselves, medicaid eases their burden by reduces most of the expenses. As many people who rely on this federal and state partnership program cannot afford other insurance medical covers this program cushions about a fifth of the country’s population and provides for many community health centers and nursing homes while providing employment opportunities too.
How it works
Just like Obamacare, Medicaid is regulated and governed by the Social security act and several organs of the federal government such as the Medicare and Medicaid services (CMS) that is found in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Under the watchful eye and direction of federal guidelines states have the authority to decide the extent of public health service on the population and ways the doctors will receive remuneration for their services. This usually causes a difference in the way other states deliver their services but all citizens are guaranteed services as long as they meet the medicaid requirements whereas all states are assured federal financial support so long as they register qualified patients.
History of medicaid
Back when the Medicaid law of 1965 was introduced they were using cash as a supplementary for helping the poor, disabled or the elderly qualify for health coverage for example in 1972 there was the federal Supplemental Security Income (SSI). Federal provisions made it that states could decide to offer more coverage apart from cash and Congress followed suit by adding more variety of coverage to the most vulnerable in the community who are pregnant women, kids and the disabled. Congress passed a regulation that states that the health insurance cover would assist low income earners to remit their monthly premiums and allow for an option of working individuals to join. Congress also enacted the Children Health Insurance Program (CHIP) in 1997 meant to assist children who cannot pay the required amount for medicaid cover. These radical changes brought about massive state enrollment drives for kids who qualified for this cover while making the enrollment procedure more easier.
In the year 2010 the Affordable Care Act (ACA) made strides in making medicaid more widely available by including young adults. Before this change federal requirements prohibited coverage of young adults who had no children. However due to the ACA young adults who have no children are covered. Many of these young people have jobs but their jobs do not provide health insurance but medicaid can provide this cover.
The Role of Medicaid
Medicaid offers long-term healthcare options for 75 million Americans going by the 2007 statistics, whereby children account for 43% of these new enrollments, while the rest are the elderly and people living with disabilities. Medicaid is very important in many states as it caters for something close to 45% of all childbirths, and nearly all children who cannot cater for their own medical bills. Apart from medical bills medicaid can be chosen to cover other health related issues such as dental hygiene, pharmaceutical drugs and eyewear.
