Medicaid is a health insurance program that caters to healthcare costs of certain individuals and low-income households. The Medicaid program was created in 1965 in tandem with the Medicare program. Medicaid is a joint program for the federal and state governments, which together provide healthcare finance for low income and other eligible individuals. Even though the oversight of the Medicaid program occurs at the federal level, each state has the responsibility of establishing the eligibility, administration, and determining the type and amount of services. The major reason for designing this program was to expand healthcare access to low-income individuals.
The federal government makes payments to the states to cover for at least half of the costs in providing services to the beneficiaries. The eligibility for Medicaid has been expanded to cover for pregnant women and other groups of people who were initially excluded. The program has assisted millions of low-income families and children in having access to the healthcare services irrespective of their income. Over the years since1865, the number of people covered under Medicaid has increased, thus putting a lot of pressure on the healthcare expenditure in the United States. The health care system in the United States is currently considered the most expensive due to the kind of coverage and payment systems which are considered as a waste.
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One of the major challenges that face the US healthcare system is the ever-rising healthcare costs. The healthcare costs in the United States has tripled in the last few years, with the rate expected to continue rising in the next few years. The same rising cost of healthcare continue to affect the funding of the Medicaid programs as more people become eligible for the program. The wasteful form of payments which focus on quantity rather than quality also stands out as a challenge to the Medicaid program as it increases the healthcare budget.
