Medicaid

Medicaid is the largest health insurer in the United States, in terms of eligible beneficiaries, covering medical services and long-term care for some 41. 3 million people. In 1997, Medicaid expended 159. 9 billion (12. 4 percent of total national health care expenditures) to pay for covered services for low-income people who were elderly, blind, disabled, receiving public assistance, or among the working poor. The vast majority of such persons fall outside the employment-based insurance system, the mainstay of coverage for the working population. This fifth report in the series on the American health care system14 examines the federal and state roles. . .