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Medicaid Overview
As documented in NOW's report "The Bottom Line," in Mississippi, as many as 65,000 people are bracing for the deepest cuts any state has ever made in Medicaid eligibility for senior citizens and the disabled. The cuts are so severe, critics say, that many of the state's most vulnerable are facing an unthinkable choice between buying food and buying medicine.
Why are these cuts being made? It's part of a budget balancing act faced by many American states. According to the National Association of State Budget Officers, "Medicaid continues to be the fastest growing category of state spending, increasing by 11.4 percent in fiscal 2002, and now accounts for 20.8 of total state expenditures." The National Conference of State Legislatures April 2004 budget update listed Medicaid cost overruns in 20 states.
It was Franklin Delano Roosevelt who first suggested that the government should play a role in health care for Americans. And Harry Truman took up the cause after FDR's death. Every Democratic administration after FDR tried to introduce some form of assisted health coverage, but it wasn't until the 1965 passage of the Mills Bill that Medicaid was created, amending FDR's first safety-net legislation, the Social Security Act of 1935. Medicaid is the largest source of funding for medical and health-related services for people with limited income and is jointly funded by the federal and state governments. Today it serves more than 50 million individuals. Medicaid also serves to fill in critical gaps for the elderly and disabled in Medicare coverage. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, although three quarters of Medicaid's enrollees are adults or children, the elderly and disabled account for 70% of the program's expenditures.
The Kaiser Family Foundation has published a number of recent reports illustrating the effect that cuts in federal support and declining state revenues have had on Medicaid Programs. Read the reports and find out more about Medicaid below. Each state also had a Web site dedicated to administering Medicaid.
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The Consumers Union
The Consumers Union is the non-profit publisher of CONSUMER REPORTS. The healthcare section of the Web site has fact sheets and a drug cost calculator for the new prescription plan.
Families USA: The Voice for Healthcare Consumers
This national nonprofit, non-partisan organization offers a multitude of resources related to Medicare and health care.
Health Insurance
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services provides numerous resources related to Medicare and Medicaid.
History of Medicaid
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is a Federal agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Among the resources at this site is a timeline showing how and when the program was established.
Kaiser Family Foundation
The Kaiser Family Foundation provides non-partisan information on national health issues to policymakers, the media, and the general public. The site also provides a wealth of facts and figures and important contact information on a local level through its State Health Facts Online. Read The Medicaid Resource Book.
Medicaid
Site for Consumer Information
This site offers information and assistance to Medicaid users. It also contains information on eligibility, a user-friendly glossary of terms and links to state program Web sites.
ONLINE NEWSHOUR: Changing Medicaid
The NEWSHOUR WITH JIM LEHRER provides an extensive history of Medicaid and details on Health and Human Service's Secretary Tommy Thompson's plan for Medicaid overhaul.
Public Citizen's Congress Watch
This section of this national non-profit public interest organization tracks Congressional proceedings and campaign finance related to health care, prescription drugs and Medicare reform.
The White House
President Bush outlines his goals for health care in 2004.
Senator John Kerry
The probable Democratic candidate outlines his goals for Medicare.
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