Good health is important to everyone, but with skyrocketing medical costs and a slumping economy now is harder than ever to pay for good quality Health Care. If you can't afford to pay for medical care right now, Medicaid can help provide the resources necessary to ensure you and your family have a long and healthy life
Medicaid is a state run program for low-income individuals and families. Many groups of people can gain access to Medicaid as long as they meet certain requirements set forth by their State's Medicaid administration. Medicaid requirements can include age, whether or not you are pregnant, disabled, your financial standing or if you are a US citizen.
Arizona Proposes Program That Will Insure More Children
December 7, 2011
Arizona state hospital executives came up with a proposal that will restore Medicaid coverage to thousands of children. If approved, the proposal would most likely be implemented late January or early February 2012.
KidsCare
The main goal of the proposal is to allow up to 19,200 children on the Medicaid waiting list to enroll in KidsCare, a health insurance program catering to low-income families. However, this must be approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
KidsCare provides health coverage to low-income families who still make “too much” to be eligible for Medicaid. They provide $10 to $70 a month per family, depending on the income. This covers doctors’ visits, prescriptions, surgery, emergency room visits, and vision and dental care.
Improving the Situation
This proposal was drafted when Arizona stopped enrollment in the children’s Medicaid program in January 2010 to cut costs. Because of the cost cutting, the number of children receiving assistance decreased from 45,820 to 14,200.
The Phoenix Children’s Hospital, the Maricopa Integrated Health System and the University of Arizona Health Network initiated this new plan and will allot $113 million in the next two years.
The money will be used to provide more Medicaid coverage to uninsured children and at the same time, get money from Washington in order to offset the non-compensated health care costs provided by hospitals.
“It isn’t a complete solution but it is an effort to try to improve our situation,” said Karen Mlawsky, CEO of the University of Arizona Medical Center in Tucson.