The Medicaid health insurance is available in the United States and it is designed in order to provide assistance to certain categories of people. They receive the Medicaid health insurance depending on their age, their citizenship, residency, legal status and on their income.
The Medicaid program has been designed for people who have a low income or those who have certain disabilities and cannot afford to pay for the medical services that they need. Usually, the categories which are accepted to take part of the program include people who are old,those who are blind or disabled, people from families in which there are dependent children, people who are living with AIDS or children from poor families. What people should know is that the Medicaid health insurance does not pay money to people; Medicaid works like this – it sends payments directly to the health-care providers.
In general, some of the following services are paid for by the Medicaid health insurance. But, there are some services that may not be covered because of the patient’ s age, because of his family situation or because of his financial circumstances. There are some services which have small co-payments – meaning that you also have to pay a small amount of money in order to receive certain services.
The Medicaid health insurance usually pays for services like:
- people who want to stop smoking and need certain medicines or other medical services are helped by their Medicaid health insurance;
- hospital services;
- dental care services;
- the Medicaid health insurance covers certain treatments in psychiatric hospitals – only for people who are under 21 or for people who are 65 and older – and it also provides certain services and medicines for people who are mentally retarded or for those who are developmentally disabled
- family planning services;
- laboratory services and other clinic services;
- care through home health agencies and personal care
- the Medicaid health insurance also pays for : medical equipment, supplies, medicines and appliances like wheelchairs;
- it pays for the transportation to certain medical appointments ;
- it pays for the prenatal care;
- it pays for the transportation with the ambulance;
These are the services that are usually covered by the Medicaid health insurance . People who are accepted by this program usually receive a Benefit Identification Card which should be used when they need certain medical services.
What people should know is that the Medicaid health insurance does not provide assistance for all the people who are poor. In order to be accepted and approved, people have to meet all the defined eligibility criteria.
In order to be eligible, one should meet some other requirements too : disabilities, age, blindness, pregnancy, income. When it comes to the eligibility for Medicaid there are also special rules regarding people who live in a nursing home and disabled children who live at home. We should know that, when it comes to children, they can be covered even if they are citizens or permanent residents. Children can be eligible even if their parents are eligible or not.
These are some things that we should know about the Medicaid health insurance and which should help us see if we are eligible, if we can apply for it and if we need it or not.
