Introduction
Medicaid is a program run by the federal and state governments to assist those with limited income with healthcare costs and can be used in conjunction with Medicare. The number of Medicaid enrollees has grown from about 74 million in 2017 to almost 90 million in 2021. Most recently, the Affordable Care Act greatly expanded Medicaid eligibility.
In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Social Security Amendments of 1965 which, among other things, established Medicaid. While Medicaid has been amended since its creation, it was greatly expanded by the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”); while the ACA has been controversial, it was constitutionally upheld by the Supreme Court in 2012 in National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius.
There is currently no single Medicaid system, but rather 50 different programs run by the individual states. Those state programs operate by either contracting private insurance companies to provide coverage or by directly paying providers. And while the different Medicaid programs have differences, states must comply with regulations by the federal government in order to receive federal funding for their Medicaid programs.
Learn for yourself how Medicaid enrollment changes by state by browsing the data in the charts.
[shield-db-table]Need to survey a highly targeted audience?
Talk to our Experts