Medicare vs. Medicaid

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that Medicare is a federal insurance which provides persons over the age of 65 with coverage for many health conditions and treatment with no regard to their income level; whereas, Medicaid is both a federal and state program, which provides health assistance to people of low income groups with little regard for their age. The author points out that, even though Medicare is a successful program, it comes with gaps especially in the areas of prescription drugs and long-term, non-professional nursing care. The paper relates that to help with Medicare's gaps, most have some form of supplemental insurance; the elderly spend an estimated 22% of their income, on average, for health care services and premiums.

From the Paper:

"Compared to Medicaid which is viewed as a comprehension program for low income groups, Medicare has certainly outperformed Medicaid in many ways. In 1998, when 88 percent of older people were covered by Medicare, 73 percent of low income groups did not have proper insurance. This means that an overwhelming majority of people (around 44 million) were left uninsured. Even employer-based insurance programs have not been able to perform well. Most workers are poorly covered under these programs and premiums have gone up from 12 to 22 percent."

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