Health Insurance Vs Medicare Essay

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Medicare and Medicaid are two different government-run programs that were a response to the inability of older and low-income Americans to buy private health insurance. This paper will answer many different questions, 5 questions to be exact, that many of people ask when looking at the difference between medicare and Medicaid
The first one that is asked a lot is when and why each program started. Medicare and Medicaid both were signed in on July 30th, 1965 by President Lyndon B. Johnson. They were both part of President Lyndon Johnson’s “Great Society” vision of a general social commitment to meeting individual health care needs. Medicare and Medicaid are social insurance programs that allow the financial burdens of illness to be shared among …show more content…

Well, Medicare if paid through two trust fund accounts held by the U.S. Treasury and can only be used for Medicare. One of them is the Hospital Insurance (HI) Trust fund that are the payroll taxes paid by most employees and or employers. Some other sources are; income taxes that are paid on Social Security benefits, the interest earned on the trust fund investments, and the Medicare Part A premiums from people who aren't eligible for premium-free Part A The other one is the Supplementary Medical Insurance (SMI) Trust Fund. The funds are authorized by Congress, and the premiums from people enrolled in Medicare Part B (Medical Insurance) and Medicare prescription drug coverage, which is part D. Other sources, like interest are earned on the trust fund investments. Now with Medicaid it is different. It is jointly funded by the federal government and states. The federal government pays states for a specified percentage of program expenditures, called the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP). Which is the percentage rates used to determine the matching funds rate? It is allocated annually to certain medical and social service programs in the United States of America and is adjusted for each state on a three-year cycle to account for fluctuations in the

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