Advantages And Disadvantages Of Medicare

Medicaid is like Medicare in that they both are a federally sponsored program which were created in 1965 in an effort to care for our country’s most vulnerable populations, the young and the old. Medicaid differs from Medicare as it is managed by each individual state and a recipient must qualify financially or physically to receive benefits. The program was initiated as a supplement to fill the gaps in Medicare plan benefits and ensure that children were afforded the possibility of a healthy childhood (Nickitas, Middaugh & Aries, 2016). From inception, Medicaid’s control was given to each state with the belief that they were better equipped to identify who and what service should be covered. General guidance for mandatory and optional services have always been provide by the federal program, however implementation is at the discretion of the state (KFF. 2011). The federal government funds a major portion of the Medicaid cost though basing its share on the average income per capita as related to the nation average. This federal share ranges from 50-70% per state. These basic foundations created 50 distinct yet similar

The cost of care varies depending on the benefits approved by the state. High performing states can actually provide better care then states who do not perform as well. Yet when comparing vulnerable population covered by Medicaid benefits, the average recipient of care fared better than the advantaged population. However, one cannot overlook that many do not qualify for these services. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) sought to decrease the numbers of American who are ineligible for healthcare coverage. The working poor make too much money to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to afford government sponsored coverage. Since the state are allowed to determine whether they accept the Medicaid expansion through the ACA, as many as 14 states have chosen not to accept the expansion (KFF,