Looking at Medicaid’s traditional eligibility rules, you not…
Looking at Medicaid’s traditional eligibility rules, you notice numerous value/policy judgments–pregnant women and children are favored over childless adults, the medically needy are favored over other low-income individuals with high costs, non-immigrants are favored over immigrants. Under the ACA expansion, these distinctions mostly disappear and eligibility depends purely on income level in the case of the biggest expansion group. Which approach do you prefer? Please explain your position in two-to-three sentences. If the ACA approach were expanded beyond 133% of FPL (federal poverty line), the costs of the Medicaid program would soar. Given limited resources, do you think it would be better to cover more people at a higher poverty level across the board or continue to favor some groups over others through the categorical requirement? Please explain your position in two-to-three sentences. Should we decide that, for some populations, the government should step in and provide coverage regardless of the cost? In other words, is there a point where equity outweighs financial constraints? Please explain your position in two-to-three sentences. NOTE – there are three different questions in this essay prompt. Make sure that EACH answer is one-to-two paragraphs in length. The majority of the points for this question will be associated with EXPLAINING your rationale and providing examples from the class (not from the internet!).