Expansion Of Medicaid Essay

Whereas more people are enrolling in Medicaid than Medicare, more executive orders of cutting Medicaid funds become common, while people who desperately need the assistance Medicaid gives them will become denied. Medicaid is a federal program that covers over 65 million people, those people being pregnant women, families and their children, the elderly, people with disabilities, and all people regardless of age who are near or under the federal poverty line. The largest group Medicaid covers is the elderly which are 10% of enrollees and ¼ of Medicaid spending. More than what Medicare, a federal health care program which only covers support block people of age 65 and over, spends. Federal law requires states to provide mandatory benefits

Representative Tom Price and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan have suggested the idea of implementing block grants. Block grants are a fixed amount of money given to the states depending on how much of the population is near or in the federal poverty line and would grow slightly each year to accommodate the inflation. While in theory, it may seem like a beneficial plan to help Medicaid, but in practice as years pass fewer people would be covered by Medicaid because there wouldn’t be enough funding, since medical inflation grows at a much faster rate, than what the plan accommodates for. This plan would also mean that instead of the federal government having the control of Medicaid, states would have the control instead. If the plan for block grant funding is actually used instead of the federal-state funding than 14 million Americans who can’t pay for health insurance will lose their eligibility for Medicaid by 2026. Instead of Medicaid staying a program where all eligible are covered, it will be one where the enrollees eligible might be covered by health care