Medicaid refers to a joint state and federal program that aims at helping people with limited resources and income such as pregnant women, children, adults, and people with disabilities among others with medical costs across the United States. It also offers extensive benefits which are not usually being covered by Medicare, like personal care services and home care services. Two types of Medicaid involves both the client and majoritarian politic in the coverage process. For example, the community Medicaid that assists people with no medical insurance and the Medicaid nursing home coverage which caters for nursing home charges for eligible individuals. The paper focuses on discussing the role of Medicaid in involving clients and majoritarian politics
To participate in the Medicaid program, federal law demands that the states must cover certain groups of people. Mandatory eligibility groups of Medicaid include low-income families, Individuals receiving Supplemental Security Income services and qualified pregnant women and children. Similarly, States also have additional coverage options other groups who are not within the jurisdiction of the program, such as children in foster care, community-based services as well as individuals receiving home services but are not eligible under the federal dispensation.
Additionally, the 2010 Affordable Care Act also created an opportunity for states to enlarge Medicaid scope to cover all low-income elderly Americans 65 years old. Notably, the federal government extended the eligibility for children to at least 133% above the national poverty level (FPL) in states where the cover is higher than the expected(Wilson et al., 2018). Similarly, the states received options of extending the adults eligibility with income below 133% of the average FPL. However, to increase client and majoritarian politics, most states chose to expand adult coverage to fit in the outlined federal rules and regulations governing the Medicaid program.
Moreover, all Medicaid program funding is issued by either the states or the federal programs. Most countries spend approximately 20% of their annual general budget in funding the Medicaid programs. Similarly, the national expenditure shows that Medicaid programs take about 30% of the total budget in each state. This means that the clients are directly involved in the federal support and their vulnerability is a political issue.The program has also enrolled millions of Americans with the federal government allocating billions of money to run the program(Wilson et al., 2018). For example, research shows that annual health care services and coverage provided by Medicaid cost approximately $295 billion of the federal outlay, with a positive deviation every year. Interestingly, Medicaid does not make direct payment to the individual benefits but instead sends the benefit payments to concerned health care providers.However, in some states, the Medicaid beneficiaries are required to make co-payments for the medical services administered.
Furthermore, although the state participation in the Medicaid program is voluntary, the services being provided are immediate especially for prescription drugs, mentally handicapped and nursing facility care for all individuals below 21 years old (Wilson et al., 2018). Other least non-medical services which are being provided by the Medicaid program includes ventilator dependent on respiratory care as well as elderly care services with support from the federal regulations.
In conclusion, Medicaid uses the low-come persons to create a sound relationship between the clients and the majoritarian politics. The presences of voluntary participation in the Medicaid program makes it easier for other immediate care services be possible without resistance from the federal states. Overall, dependent on funding from the state or the federal government shows that Congress is honoring the program and willing to support.
References
Wilson, J. Q., DiIulioJr, J. J., Bose, M., &Levendusky, M. S. (2018). American government: Institutions and policies. Cengage Learning.
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