Medicaid

A federally aided, state-operated and administered program of medical benefits for qualified persons of low income and/or qualifying disability, established as Title XIX of the 1965 Social Security Amendments. The program covers only certain categories of needy persons--the aged, blind, disabled, and members of families with dependent children where one parent is absent, incapacitated, or unemployed. Under the broad federal guidelines, each state determines the benefits, eligibility, payment rates, and methods of administering the program.

Federal law requires that states participating in the Medicaid program provide at least the following: laboratory and x-ray services; skilled nursing facility care and home health care services for those 21 years of age or older; early and periodic screening, diagnosis, and treatment of persons under 21; family planning services; rural health services. In 1984 Medicaid provided services to almost 22.7 million persons at a cost of $38.7 billion. Slightly less than half of that total was paid by the states; the balance represented the federal government’s share, as determined by a federal medical assistance percentage formula. Unlike Medicare, which provides very limited coverage of long term care for the elderly, Medicaid does cover long term care services under certain conditions. [Sources: National Coalition on Catholic Healthcare Ministry, 1995; Starr, P., The Social Transformation of American Medicine (New York: Basic Books, Inc., 1982); and Friedman, E., "The Compromise and the Afterthought. Medicare and Medicaid after 30 Years," JAMA 274 (1995): 278-82.]

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