Medicaid

Medicaid, a health insurance safety net that shortchanges providers and bedevils its federal and state stewards because of its soaring expenditures, is nevertheless the financial lifeline of 28.3 million people who rely on it to pay for their medical and long-term care. As this sixth report on the American health care system16 describes, Medicaid purchases services for low-income people who are elderly, blind, disabled, or receiving Aid to Families with Dependent Children -- all groups that fall outside the employment-based insurance system. The Medicaid program accounts for about 16.5 percent of personal health spending in the United States. Whether . . .