Looking at Medicare and Medicaid on its 50th anniversary from when Lyndon Johnson signed the bill into law, it’s important to see how it has evolved from the original vision of the legislators five decades ago.
Medicaid was initially conceived as an insurance program of a voluntary nature designed for low-income families with dependent children and the disabled. As it stands now over 70 million Americans depend on it and has become the main portion of a social safety net. Modern Healthcare reports “history shows that the voluntary nature of the program resulted in a 17-year wait for full national implementation. Even then it was done in a very uneven manner. For some, access to benefits from the program was at best illusionary because of the extremely low eligibility levels and the degree of bureaucracy required by some states for both entry into the program and maintenance of eligibility.”
In 2012, the ACA (aka Obamacare) fundamentally changed the program. It has become, through the new healthcare law, a nationwide program that provides coverage to all low-income people. Reported by Modern Healthcare; “Medicaid expansion under the ACA has unquestionably worked in improving access to care and improving quality. Nearly 14 million more people have gained access to Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program since the reform law took effect. Medicaid now serves one-fifth of the entire U.S. population, which now also includes seniors, pregnant women and a significantly greater percentage of disabled and previously excluded low-income people. Despite this success, many Americans still lack health coverage and too many states aren’t accepting the law’s Medicaid expansion. As a result, more than 7 million people remain uncovered.”
Medicare serves as a tribute to a civilized society’s testament to caring for all of its inhabitants. The costs, social and political debates will always prevail however the alternative to having Medicaid is totally unacceptable.
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