Medicaid is a Middle Class Benefit

A retired investment industry veteran whose son has autism and receives coverage from the program said, “I never thought that Medicaid would become an issue in my family, but it has.”

Medicaid is now on the “chopping block” as Republican-elected members of Congress seek to make up to $2 trillion in spending cuts to pay for another tax cut for billionaires. This Medicaid policy debate affects everyone, not just those in low-income households.Medicaid primarily serves Americans with lower incomes to allow them to have access to medical services. However, Ron Lieber wrote a great article explaining how and why Medicaid is actually a middle-class benefit.

Millions of Americans currently comfortable without this coverage are just one bad break away from seeking it. Without coverage from Medicaid, the cost of care for an elderly family member or sick/disabled child is costly. Medicaid can be viewed as a shield from the heightened anxiety resulting from medical bills.

Not only does Medicaid cover personal family bills, but it also pays for nursing homes and other long-term care for those who have run out of money. According to an annual survey by Genworth, a company in the long-term care planning business, many middle-aged people are “astounded” when they see the price of a semi-private room in a nursing home for their aging loved one, which is about $111,325 per room. They are then relieved when their loved one qualifies for Medicaid coverage.

David C. Grabowski, a professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School, said, “This is everybody’s coverage.”

Many adults in their 20s appreciate the law that health insurers allow most parents to keep a child on their plan until the child turns 26. After the child turns 26, they are on their own. This does not ensure gainful employment for these adults, let alone the kind of employment that provides health insurance.

Medicaid usually covers individuals who earn no more than $21,597 annually. The state you live in matters a lot for the categories for qualification of Medicaid
beneficiaries, as the state administers the programs. There is usually at least one family member who has to care for those in their family who are suffering from a medical condition that prevents them from work or their daily activities.

For example, if your minor child has spina bífida or cerebral palsy, health insurance may not cover all therapy or health aids who assist so that their parents can work. This is when Medicaid pays for the expenses of therapy and home aides, no matter how much the parent earns. This can also be the case if one’s child ends up needing an enormous amount of care from either an accident, stroke, or life-altering mental health diagnosis.

This is also true if you are interested in adopting a child. Kelly Smith and his partner adopted two brothers from a Connecticut foster care system and moved them to North Carolina. Their two boys qualified for Medicaid and could stay on this coverage until they were young adults. Later, Smith’s grandmother turned 100 and could no longer live alone and had to be placed in a nursing home facility. Medicaid paid for her stay. He said “Medicaid supports everyone, including us upper-incomes.”