What is Medicaid? Coverage, Eligibility, and How to Apply

 

The American healthcare system is to say the least a little complicated today we're going to do a deep dive into Medicaid what it is who it covers and how to apply if you're eligible in simple terms;

Medicaid is a health insurance plan for people who are disabled or in lower income brackets Medicaid covers over million individuals in America. It is funded by both the federal and state governments through each state administers and manages its own individual Medicaid program because Medicaid varies from state to state the exact coverage you'll get will depend on where you live however under federal law every state's Medicaid program must cover;

doctor visits & services like radiology, inpatient hospital care, short-term, home health care, ambulances and long-term care in addition Medicaid will also cover most of the following services though the amount of coverage you get will vary from state to state eye exams and glasses dental care hearing aids physical therapy chiropractic care dentures prosthetics preventive services and family planning services while Medicaid does cover a broad range of medical care it does not cover over-the-counter medications or supplements cosmetic surgery medical services outside of the us custodial care missed appointments or routine physical checkups that's a lot of information so if you want to get more specific on what your state covers visit medicaid.gov

The biggest factor for qualifying for your state's Medicaid program will be based on your income the affordable care act of  helped expand Medicaid so that nearly all low-income individuals under  may qualify for Medicaid so if your income is lower than percent of the federal poverty level you will most likely qualify for Medicaid the  poverty level for individuals is  and for a family of four  in addition to income you'll usually also have to be a resident of the state where you're getting Medicaid furthermore there are a number of limits to how many assets an individual can have in order to qualify for Medicaid these assets usually include checking and savings balances home equity investments annuities and more most states have an asset limit of two thousand dollars however there are some assets you can have that will not count towards this limit these include the value of one car your primary residence life insurance policies and a funeral fund because the asset limit of most states is so low many individuals choose to spend their accountable assets on non-countable assets one example of this would be using your savings account which is accountable asset to pay down your mortgage which would be a non-countable asset many states also have programs for individuals and families with specific medical needs for example an uninsured woman who becomes pregnant will usually qualify for her state's medicaid program.

 what is the difference between medicare and medicaid given how complex our health care system is it's easy to mix the two of these up while they are completely different programs there can be some overlap between who gets coverage Medicare is primarily for individuals over  years old in order to qualify for Medicare you must have been working and paying Medicare taxes for at least  years however some people under  can qualify if they've been on social security disability for two years have ALS or end-stage renal disease while Medicaid is dependent on having low income Medicare doesn't have an income requirement as long as you've met one of those criteria you can qualify for Medicare regardless of your socioeconomic status Medicare doesn't cover long-term care like a nursing home however Medicaid will usually cover some type of long-term coverage though that care is usually fairly limited in terms of similarities Medicare and Medicaid both cover hospitalizations labs medications doctor visits and radiology how do you apply for Medicaid there are currently two ways to go about applying for Medicaid the first way is to contact your state's Medicaid agency you can find their contact information at medicaid.gov remember you are required to be a resident of the state where you're applying for the other way to apply for Medicaid is to fill out the online form on the healthcare.gov insurance marketplace yes understanding healthcare in the U.S.A can be a little complicated however with the abundance of information available online it's become much easier to understand programs like Medicaid and how you can get covered if you qualify here's a quick recap Medicaid is a program primarily for low-income individuals while Medicare is usually for the elderly remember you can always visit medicaid.gov for all the information you'll need.