The Benefits of Medicaid Program in America

President Obama is notoriously known for once saying he had fought to ensure that health care was a right for every single American instead of a privilege. In 1965, Medicaid was signed into law as a program to grant low-income families affordable health care. Fifty-three years later, this program now supports “nearly a quarter” of all Americans and has become a major social welfare program committed to giving individuals living in poverty equal health care. Although there would be an increase in taxes for a small percentage of Americans, due to its ability to improve the standard of living for low-income individuals, the federal government of the United States should increase eligibility for Medicaid.The Benefits of Medicaid Program in America

Medicaid plays a critical role in bridging the health care gap put by racial inequalities. People of color continue to be disproportionately at greater risk of being uninsured due to their societal disadvantages and being statistically more likely to be on the lower end of the socioeconomic spectrum. Of all racial minorities in the United States, “Latinos and Native Americans are at greatest risk of being uninsured”. Without the proper insurance that covers hospital visits and without having the economy to afford to pay for any sort of health care, millions are forced to forego crucial medicine that could potentially save their lives. Additionally, due to the high concentration of low-income African-Americans living in southern states that voted to not expand Medicaid, there is a “40 percent gap” between black and white mortality rates with African-Americans dying much earlier and more frequently than the average White American. Without the 2010 expansion that was enacted from the Affordable Care Act, millions of minorities are considered too high above the poverty level to where they do not qualify for Medicaid, yet are too poor to afford private health insurance. An expansion of Medicaid would be an essential step to government-promoted equity as it would give desperately needed healthcare to its countries’ most financially vulnerable individuals, which disproportionately happen to be people of color.