Fifty Years of Medicaid

Medicaid generally covers the health care needs of children while they are in foster care, but until a new Medicaid provision became effective in January 2014, coverage usually ended when a young person “aged out." Now, states cover, individuals under age 26 who were enrolled in...

Tooth decay is the most common preventable chronic disease among children in the United States. If left untreated, it can negatively affect a child’s physical and social development, as well as his or her school performance. All children enrolled in Medicaid and Children’s Health...

The roots of Medicaid’s comprehensive benefit package for children stem from the findings of a government study, One Third of a Nation: A Report on Young Men Unqualified for Military Service . The study investigated the reasons leading to a 50 percent rejection rate among young men drafted...

A large body of research finds that when eligible parents get enrolled in Medicaid, their children are also more likely to get enrolled and to receive necessary preventive care.

Medicaid is a major source of health coverage for the nation’s children, providing coverage for more than 1 in 3 children. Between 1997 and 2012, Medicaid - together with its sister program, the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) - was the driving force behind a dramatic reduction...

Medicaid is a cost-effective health coverage program. It generally provides a more comprehensive benefit package than private insurance and costs less per beneficiary than private insurance. A recent analysis of Medicaid expenditure data shows that in 2005, for people with similar health status, Medicaid cost 27% less for children and 20% less for adults than private insurance.

Medicaid, like other health coverage programs, helps to assure access to health care. Independent research shows that the vast majority of Medicaid beneficiaries - whether they are children or adults - report that they have a usual source of care and have had a well-child visit or a general doctor visit in the past 12 months.

Most Medicaid beneficiaries are employed or are in households where someone is working. In 2013, 79% of children who were Medicaid beneficiaries lived with at least one worker; 65% lived with at least one full-time worker. That year, 65% of adults with Medicaid were in a family with a worker; half were in a family with at least one full-time worker. Adults who qualify for Medicaid may be working but earning low wages and may not be able to afford private coverage.

The opportunity to expand Medicaid to more low-income adults has opened the door to health coverage for millions of people who may never have had insurance before or who may have been uninsured for a long time. Many have pressing health needs that they have not been able to address because, without coverage, they could not afford to see a doctor or obtain necessary medications. Among the states that have not expanded Medicaid, the median eligibility threshold for parents with dependent children is just 45% of the federal poverty line.

Medicaid is designed to provide health coverage for our nation’s most vulnerable individuals and families. Medicaid makes it possible for millions of children, parents, pregnant women, people with disabilities and seniors to get the health coverage they need to get healthy and stay healthy.  And now, more low-income adults are eligible for Medicaid than ever before as a result of the Medicaid expansion, implemented with federal support provided through the Affordable Care Act.