In a thread that raised certain health care issues a few posts were made regarding the ability of the down and out to get medical care if they were impoverished. For example:
Poverty alone does not make you eligible for Medicaid. Federal law does not require Medicaid to cover poor people unless they fit into certain categories. Certain poor children can get coverage. Some people can get coverage if they are poor and are pregnant or have young children who are eligible. People who are poor and completely disabled are eligible. People who are poor and elderly needing nursing home care are eligible. States can choose to cover more people but the trend has been for states to cut as their budgets suffer. Most if not all states do not cover all penniless people. Overview Medicaid Program - General Information
What assets you can keep is primarily a matter of state law and states' laws are not generous.
What Medicaid will cover is also variable. For example, a state may provide coverage for hospice care or it might not. Medicaid rarely covers birth control. I worked with a young woman not long ago who was severely mentally ill and on SSI disability and Medicaid. Medicaid would not cover all the costs of sterilization and she really needed the procedure. Transplants might not be covered. Just because there is a medical need does not mean Medicaid will cover it. States may require copays as well. A couple of studies have shown that the copays have resulted in large numbers of people not filing any prescriptions because of the hardship.
Sometimes states have separate programs to try to help out people who are not eligible for Medicaid. Not all states have them and they tend to be very restrictive on who they cover, how much and what they cover. For example, I have seen states limit coverage to only a few thousand dollars a year plus the person had to pay a premium. These programs tend to come and go depending on the health of a state's budget.
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Yes, I believe that once you pay all that you have for health care and become penniless, the public assistance will then step in.
I think that is also true for elderly care like nursing home costs. Just become penniless and you would be taken care of.
Poverty alone does not make you eligible for Medicaid. Federal law does not require Medicaid to cover poor people unless they fit into certain categories. Certain poor children can get coverage. Some people can get coverage if they are poor and are pregnant or have young children who are eligible. People who are poor and completely disabled are eligible. People who are poor and elderly needing nursing home care are eligible. States can choose to cover more people but the trend has been for states to cut as their budgets suffer. Most if not all states do not cover all penniless people. Overview Medicaid Program - General Information
What assets you can keep is primarily a matter of state law and states' laws are not generous.
What Medicaid will cover is also variable. For example, a state may provide coverage for hospice care or it might not. Medicaid rarely covers birth control. I worked with a young woman not long ago who was severely mentally ill and on SSI disability and Medicaid. Medicaid would not cover all the costs of sterilization and she really needed the procedure. Transplants might not be covered. Just because there is a medical need does not mean Medicaid will cover it. States may require copays as well. A couple of studies have shown that the copays have resulted in large numbers of people not filing any prescriptions because of the hardship.
Sometimes states have separate programs to try to help out people who are not eligible for Medicaid. Not all states have them and they tend to be very restrictive on who they cover, how much and what they cover. For example, I have seen states limit coverage to only a few thousand dollars a year plus the person had to pay a premium. These programs tend to come and go depending on the health of a state's budget.
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