POL 536 Chapter Notes - Chapter 3: Supplemental Security Income, Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act, Main Source

• School: University of Miami
• Department: Political Science
• Course: POL 536
• Professor: Shalala Donna

Document Summary

Medicaid"s role in health care system: medi(cid:272)aid is the (cid:374)atio(cid:374)"s (cid:373)ai(cid:374) pu(cid:271)li(cid:272) health i(cid:374)su(cid:396)a(cid:374)(cid:272)e p(cid:396)og(cid:396)a(cid:373) fo(cid:396) people (cid:449)ith lo(cid:449) i(cid:374)(cid:272)o(cid:373)e & the largest source of public health coverage in the u. s. States design & administer their own medicaid programs within federal requirements, & states & the federal government finance the program jointly: medicaid covers a wide range of benefits & limits out-of-pocket costs for care. It is a core source of financing for safety-net hospitals & health centers serving low-income communities. Who does medicaid cover: before the aca, federal law provided federal funding for medicaid only for specified categories of low-income individuals: children, pregnant women, parents of dependent children, individuals with disabilities, & people 65 & older. States were required to cover individuals in these groups up to federal minimum income thresholds, but could also expand coverage to people at higher income levels: before the aca, low-income adults were largely excluded from medicaid.