Medicaid , the program that provides funding for adults, seniors (along with Medicare), children and people who are blind or disabled who can't pay for their own healthcare, is expensive. It is painfully expensive. The program, along with CHIP (the Children's Health Insurance Program), marketplace subsidies and Medicare is responsible for 25% of the federal budget. Total Medicaid costs in 2016 were around $532 billion per the Kaiser Family Foundation. States fund up to half of the cost of Medicaid, and in my state, Idaho, our share of Medicaid and related payments makes up about 21% of the state budget. Medicaid is a safety net that allows people who can't afford private insurance or to pay out of pocket to get healthcare. It pays for doctors' fees, preventive care services, hospital care, mental health care, the majority of women's costs for pregnancy and childbirth and costs for the impoverished elderly who are in nursing homes. It pays for emergency room visi...
The cost of health care in the US is higher than anywhere else in the world, and yet we are not healthier than our peer nations. In fact, in terms of such measures as infant mortality and life span, we don't measure up. Why is this? Many people involved in providing or receiving care have some pretty good ideas about what costs so much, and what we can do to reduce costs and improve quality. Sharing these stories is an important step in creating affordable universal health care.