Introduction
Medicaid is a healthcare program that pays for medical services for the people who are qualified. Medicaid helps to pay for medical services for low income and disabled people as well. If you are fully eligible for full Medicaid services , Medicaid pays the healthcare providers; meaning doctors, hospitals and pharmacies who are enrolled in the Medicaid program.
Eligibility of Medicaid
There are many groups of people who are covered by Medicaid. Within these groups, however, there are certain requirements which have to be met. Some of these requirements include age, whether or not you are pregnant, disabled, and blind or aged; your income and resources such as bank accounts and real property, whether or not you are a US citizen or a lawfully admitted immigrant among others.
Also, if you have children, they may be eligible for coverage if they are US citizens or lawfully admitted immigrants, even if you are not. There is a 5 year limit that applies to lawful permanent residents. The eligibility of the children is based on their status and not the status of the parents. The same goes if, at all the you live with a child who is not yours. Your lack of eligibility does not hinder that of the child since your income or resources do not matter in this regard.
Generally however, applicants to Medicaid should have limited income and resources. Apart from the above, anyone and everyone who meets these requirements can receive Medicaid irrespective of age, race or sex.
What Medicaid offers
Medicaid serves as a healthcare plan that offers coverage for doctor visits, hospitalization, eye care, dental, durable medical equipment, transportation and other medical related services. Medicaid provides coverage in other various programs such as home and community based waiver programs.
Medicaid and wellness programs
For the most part, state Medicaid agencies have not traditionally sought to influence recipients’ health-related behaviors. Health wellness programs, such as stopping to smoke, are not universally covered by Medicaid agencies. However, encouraging healthy behaviors shows a new trend and direction in Medicaid agencies advocating for the promotion of health and wellness. In this way of encouragement of consumer’s health and wellness related behaviors, it is important for the long-term health of recipients seeing as unhealthy behaviors have become the top causes of mortality and morbidity in the United States. These are such as tobacco use, obesity and misuse of alcohol; these account for a third of the deaths in the United States of America. The rates of death from these unhealthy behaviors are even more prevalent with the lower income segment of the population. Therefore, Medicaid’s effort toward improving recipient’s health related behaviors through these health wellness programs will bring about long term health outcomes which could eventually lower the overall costs of Medicaid universally.
There are some Medicaid programs that pay for health wellness programs. Such is like the Texas Medicaid Wellness Program which is a special health program for people who get Medicaid and have long lasting or serious health conditions. People with Medicaid can join the health wellness programs if they get Supplementary Security Income (SSI) or if they are in the Primary Care Case Management or get traditional Medicaid. Anyone in these programs can be feel free to join health wellness programs under Medicaid whenever they wish.
