ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

What is Medicaid?

Updated on June 26, 2009

Today, the costs of medical care can be very high, often to the rate that they are completely unaffordable without insurance. In many regards this is a sad testament to the way our medical industry is set up in the United States.

For low income families, Medicaid provides a way to receive medical insurance, although more than 60% of poverty stricken Americans do not qualify for this service.

A Brief Background on Medicaid

Medicaid was created as part of the Social Security Act in 1965. It was designed as a means of offering low income families, single mothers, people with disabilities, and single individuals a way to afford health care. Medicaid is an optional program, but since the 1980's, all 50 states have participated in it. Arizona was the last state to create a Medicaid program.

Who Administers Medicaid Programs?

Even though each individual state runs their own Medicaid Program, the federal government provides funding for part of the service. Each state has their own Medicaid office, although the actual name can vary by state, but on the federal side, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) ensures that the states programs meet federal requirements. If a state fails to meet federal requirements, then they risk loosing their funding.

Many states have adapted programs that are funded by the state and federal government, but actually ran by private insurance companies. One such example is Vermont, which contracts out a number of their state health care programs, including Medicaid. Other states will group all of their health care programs into a single branch, which allows for a central office to help administer all of their programs.

As a result to the many different ways that states can adhere to federal Medicaid regulations, there tends to be differences between each states programs. This means that state by state, while the Medicaid plans have the same overall coverage, how they achieve this coverage actually varies. As a result, it is necessary to visit the actual states website to find out the exact coverage rules and requirements.

To find your states Medicaid office, you can visit this Medicaid Website Directory and select your state from the list.

What is Covered by Medicaid?

Medicaid is aimed at providing affordable health care for low income families and does not only cover standard medical costs, like doctors visits and hospital stays. Medicaid also covers dental expenses, as well as prescription medicines.

Medicaid also covers the cost of home medical equipment, which is usually referred to as durable medical equipment. Durable medical equipment consists of things like wheelchairs, hospital beds, and oxygen equipment, although what is covered and how it is covered varies by each state. Some items, like Medicaid Lift Chairs, vary greatly in how they are covered state by state, but more common types of medical equipment, such as eyeglasses, are more uniformly covered by Medicaid.

Medicaid also covers nursing home expenses, although this can also vary state by state, with these expenses accounting for the most rapid increase in Medicaid Costs.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)