Rationale
The state of Florida has several services united under the common name “Medicaid.” All of them are aimed at providing affordable healthcare to low-income families living in the state. Medicaid was introduced as a federal medical assistance program in 1965 under the Social Security Amendments to the Social Security Act 42 U.S.C. The program was designed to lower the financial burden of states to care for the health and wellbeing of the needy who qualify for receiving healthcare benefits.
Adoption of the Reform
In 1935, Franklin D. Roosevelt created the ground for the reform by adopting Social Security Act that declared basic social defense mechanisms against poverty, unemployment, and senior age insecurity. Medical benefits were also planned but were not introduced because the legislators assumed the bill would not pass in the parliament. Several attempts were made to make amendments until President Lyndon B. Johnson finally signed it into law on July 30, 1965. It underwent over eight hundred amendments before its final passage. The final draft contained two parts. One concerned itself with insurances for the senior population over 65 years old, the other covered insurances for low-income families.
Medicaid utilizes federal funds to provide individuals and households close to or below the poverty line in various states with financial assistance for medical purposes. It is noteworthy to mention that state participation is not obligatory. The states that want to participate are required to form their own version of the policy that includes forming eligibility criteria, costs, payment rates, type of available services and their quantity. The money is transferred directly to the medical institution that provided the services. In the 1990s, several changes were made to the federal policy. Medical Drug Rebate Program and Health Insurance Premium Payment Program were included in Medicaid in order to assist states with patients who received their medications at discounted rates. By the end of the 1990s, the program also started covering costs for students in educational institutions.
When Florida is concerned, its state Medicaid program covers a vast variety of populations in need of medical services but unable to pay for them. Eligibility is divided into three major groups: children under 19 years old, pregnant women and families, low-income program participants, and senior citizens over 65, with a disability, or blindness. All of these categories of people have to be United States citizens, residents of Florida, and in need of medical attention or insurance.
Funding Structure
Although on average federal Medicaid program accounts for roughly 57% of the financial aid to states, Florida’s state budget covers around 59% of the state Medicaid program. According to the data gathered by Chester (2015), Florida spent 23 billion dollars on the program, while federal funds in this pool estimated 9.5 billion dollars. The reason for the inverse proportion is that Florida is a donating state and affects more payments to the federal budget than most of the states. Florida’s budget constitutes 74 billion with only 25 billion of that amount being federal funds. Chester (2015) also points out that Medicaid is not major spending and a liability to the state budget as it accounts for only 15 percent of the total expenditures. Despite that fact, Florida was one of the states that decided not to participate in the expansion of the Medicaid program under the Affordable Care Act in 2010. This decision is partly driven by the fact that Florida is a non-needy state and the Republican majority decided to opt out of the expansion (Barrilleaux & Rainey, 2014). However, another point of view is present in the matter. According to a national nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, Families USA (2013), the expansion could bring additional 8.9 billion dollars to the budget and create around 71 thousand jobs.
Impact
All things considered, the program brings the state of Florida and the USA closer to the idea of a welfare state. It helps those in need to cope with the growing costs of medical help. By lowering the financial burden on families, the state and the country facilitate the steady and firm growth of family income allowing a family to strengthen its financial wellbeing and become a full-scale social unit. Continuous implementation of the policy also upholds social justice principles, by which those who cannot pay for medical services but happen to need them are allowed to receive them. This group of needy people especially includes senior citizens who did a great service to their country and have a right to be supported. Students as future economic agents also need their health to be in order to be able to contribute to the development of the state and the country. Thus, the Medicaid program is a vital part of the rights and principles the US proclaims to guarantee to its citizens as a country.
As to the impacts on the residents of Florida, the program achieved positive results. According to the assessment of the Medicaid reform performed by the University of Florida (2014), members of the program report better accessibility. The data also suggests that there were improvements in quality of care, timeliness of services, lowered healthcare costs for families and individuals, higher satisfaction with health, and other significant developments.
References
Barrilleaux, C., & Rainey, C. (2014). The politics of need: Examining governors’ decisions to oppose the “Obamacare” Medicaid expansion. State Politics & Policy Quarterly, 14(4), 437-460.
Chester, A. (2015). Florida’s Medicaid budget: Just the facts. Web.
Families USA. (2013). Florida’s economy will benefit from expanding Medicaid. Web.
The University of Florida. (2014). Final reform evaluation report of years 1 and 2. Web.