Affordable Care Act (Healthcare Reform) and Multicultural Populations cont.
We continue our 12 part blog series on the Affordable Care Act and Multicultural Populations.
Understanding Medicaid – Part 11
By Martha C. Rivera, Director, Strategy and Insights, and Stephanie Puga, Junior Executive
Medicaid health care was created in 1965 to guarantee eligible individuals a set of benefits. Medicaid provides health insurance for the lowest income individuals and families; including disabled, elderly, adults and children. These programs are jointly financed through both federal and state governments. Each State determines the type, amount, duration, and scope of services they would like to administer in their Medicaid program. Federal guidelines require each program to cover a minimum of certain mandatory benefits such as hospital and physician services, option benefits including prescription drugs and other diagnostic services are also available if chosen by the State to provide. Individuals of multicultural heritage make up nearly half the total Medicaid beneficiaries; 29% Hispanics and 20% African Americans. It has been estimated that the percent of uninsured individuals of multicultural origin will drop approximately 46% from the current amount by 2016 due to the U.S. Medicaid reform in the Affordable Health Care Act.
Look for Part 12 of ourAffordable Care Act and Multicultural Populations in a future blog.
Source: http://www.healthcare.gov
