July 30, 2015
By Taunya English,
50 years ago , President Lyndon B. Johnson signed legislation that established two main pillars of healthcare today, Medicaid and Medicare. Originally, Medicare received most of the public’s attention. The federally funded program, primarily for Americans 65 years of age and older, is highly praised by people from all political parties. Spotlight on the Medicaid is growing say advocates, but it is still the more complicated and less popular program of the two. Medicaid is jointly funded on the state and federal level.
“Because Medicaid touches so many lives through long-term care services, through children and families, through people with disabilities, the vast majority of Americans know someone who’s been on Medicaid,” said Joan Alker, director of the Center for Children and Families at Georgetown University.
A Georgetown study reports that adults who received Medicaid benefits as children not only are healthier as adults, but achieve greater financial and academic success. Medicaid is a good long-term investment, Alker said. “Both because these folks are earning more and paying more taxes, and also because their health care costs are going to be lower because they are going to be healthier when they grow up,” she said.
…
Read more here.
