Medicaid in America

Medicaid covers around sixty-six million Americans in the United States. Medicaid connects many people to healthcare benefits while limiting out-of-pocket costs. Public health insurance options have been a source of contention throughout U.S. history and have limited Medicaid’s scope in coverage. Due to limitations of Medicaid and varying state by state regulations, forty-seven million non-elderly individuals remain uninsured (Kaiser Family Foundation, Medicaid moving forward, 2014). The high cost of insurance has deterred many from receiving coverage, and many individuals receive imperfect information regarding market costs, thus making it difficult to negotiate prices in the private health insurance marketplace. Many of these uninsured individuals are working, but make too much to qualify for Medicaid. In recent months, Pennsylvania has undergone many changes in health reform. After opting out of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid Expansion, Governor Corbett implemented his own proposal, Healthy Pennsylvania, to reduce the number of uninsured individuals in the commonwealth. Using federal funds as subsidies for individuals to purchase private health insurance plans, approximately six hundred thousand more individuals will be covered under the plan approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)