GED 132 – United States Government U4Q1

GED 132 – United States Government U4Q1

How Medicaid Involves Client and Majoritarian Politics

In the United States, Medicaid is a state and federal program that helps individuals with limited income and resources, including adults, children, pregnant women, and individuals with disabilities. Medicaid also offers home care services, as well as personal care services, which are not generally covered by Medicare.

Medicaid involves both Majoritarian and Client politics. Majoritarian politics benefit most or, in some cases, all people. Two great examples of majoritarian politics are Medicare and Social Security. According to (Maravall & Przeworski, 2003), majoritarian politics have no means test, and the main problems that politicians face with majoritarian politics is who will pay, and how much? Conversely, in client politics, few individuals benefit; however, almost all individuals have to pay. Client politics is means-tested, and the underlying problem that politicians face is which individuals should benefit, and how should those individuals be served?

For states to participate in the Medicaid program, they must cover certain groups of individuals as demanded by the federal law. Groups that are eligible for Medicaid include children, qualified pregnant women, low-income families, and people receiving Supplementary Security Income Services.  The Medicaid program further involves majoritarian politics by offering more coverage options for individuals that are not covered under the program’s jurisdiction, such as people receiving home services and children who have been placed in foster care who are illegible under the U.S. federal dispensation (Lohr, 1990).

In addition, the Affordable Care Act, which was amended in 2010, made it possible for states to widen the scope of Medicaid to cover elderly and low-income citizens (Wilson et al., 2018). The states were also presented with options that allowed them to increase the eligibility of low-income adults; however, to increase majoritarian and client politics, a large number of states chose to increase the coverage of adults in order to adhere to the outlined federal regulations that govern the Medicaid program. Medicaid involves majoritarian politics by making payments to concerned health care institutions and not directly to affected individuals. In some states, however, individuals do not enjoy the benefits of majoritarian politics as they must make co-payments to receive medical services.

Even though it is expensive, Medicaid involves majoritarian politics by paying for individuals’ healthcare and ensuring that most or all people benefit. Contrastingly, Medicaid involves client politics by offering benefits to individuals who qualify for the program. Medicaid is vitally important in the U.S. as it ensures that citizens receive critical access to cost-effective and comprehensive care.

References

Lohr, K. (1990). Medicare: A strategy for quality assurance. Volume 1: Report of a study.

Maravall, J. M., & Przeworski, A. (2003). Democracy and the Rule of Law. Cambridge University Press.

Shaw, F. E., Asomugha, C. N., Conway, P. H., & Rein, A. S. (2014). The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: opportunities for prevention and public health. The Lancet, 384(9937), 75-82.

Wilson, J. Q., DiIulio Jr, J. J., Bose, M., & Levendusky, M. S. (2018). American government: Institutions and policies. Cengage Learning.