ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the importance of Medicaid to providing medical services for low-income families. It discusses physician boycotts of Medicaid patients, fraud, and obstacles to qualifying for Medicaid. Medicaid is a federal-state program that provides long-term-care insurance and health insurance or health services through health maintenance organizations (HMOs) for more than twenty eight million people-one of every ten Americans. Inequities in Medicaid funding do not happen by accident or random distribution but, rather, are largely influenced by social power, that is, politics. Low-income neighborhoods are typically underserved by medical facilities, greatly limiting choices. In addition, a very large number of physicians refuse to see Medicaid patients or severely limit the number they will see. State interest in Medicaid managed care plans arose for two main reasons: The first is the history of the virtually uncontrolled growth in costs associated with Medicaid, and the second is the dwindling number of physicians willing to take Medicaid patients.
