What is Medicaid?
This is a program that provides health coverage for the citizens of United States of America who have a low income. This program covers very many people with complex issues whether heath care or long term care. It deals with millions of people in the USA. This program is funded by the federal government in conjunction with the states. There are very many things many people don’t have full knowledge about this Medicaid program; here is everything you should know about this program.
Medicaid benefits very by state
The states are the ones responsible for giving a health care coverage to the people who earn very low and those living with disability in that particular state. the benefits that are included in the health care that is covered by the state Medicaid are; lab services, x-rays, home health care, physician services, nursing homes, inpatient and outpatient services among others, also at some instances, the state can choose to cover optional benefits which include, drug prescription, dental services and vision services. However, these benefits are dependant on the choices, made by the state hence they will vary from one state to another, some states will include special benefits, others will not.
The program provides extra help for low income Medicare beneficiaries.
If one is a Medicare beneficiary but has their income too low which means they are eligible for Medicaid, so in this case Medicaid will find them to help them repay their Medicare premiums because they qualify for this help. Hence this is a very important thing to Medicare subscribers with a low income because they benefit from Medicaid.
Many have benefited from the expansion
Just from recently January 2019, majority of states agreed to expand the Medicaid program to cover more low earning citizens who were not able to access the medical covers from private insurance companies. This has helped much especially those who have a low income because a majority of them have been covered by now the compared to what it used to cover before the expansion.
There are new requirements
Many states now have come together and are seeking to amend the eligibility of the enrollment to Medicaid; they want to introduce premiums to the people with low income. This poses a threat to the Medicaid program because many will be unable to continue with the insurance and drop off as a result opt out for failure to comply with the requirements. If these requirements go into effect people may opt out for other insurance options. These changes are close to the Medicare supplement plans for 2020, because this one too is making changes by January 2020 which will abolish the free plan hence people will have to pay for premiums.
It is the largest body that offers public health insurance
Medicaid is responsible for providing public health insurance and long term care for more than 68 million people who have a very low income and children too, also those who have disabilities., this is because of its variety of covers like, family cover which covers the whole family, prenatal cover which covers women who are pregnant for safe delivery and also free medical checkups which are absolutely free. Medicaid also takes care of the old to give them the benefits which are not offered by Medicare, and just to keep in mind that each state has their own state health insurance assistance which provides free counseling so that if the beneficiaries are having any psychological problem, then they can get help from there.
In conclusion, Medicaid is a very important public health insurance program that covers a very large number of Americans who have a relatively low income, not forgetting those people living with disabilities. Medicaid offers various services to the clients without a premium which means it is free. P-people can enjoy the benefits without having to pay anything. However, this looks like it will be short lived since the governors of the states want to introduce premiums for Medicaid