medicaid

The US spends about half ($1 Trillion) of our federal taxes directly on Healthcare programs, between Medicaid and Medicare.

The level of effort put into fraud, abuse, and waste prevention for Medicare and Medicaid are amazing.

In some states, $25,000 per year would also disqualify a family of 4 from Medicaid (but ACA subsidies would still apply).

If you've had no income for the past year, there's a very good chance you now qualify for completely free healthcare under Medicaid (Medi-Cal in California).

> The US spends about half ($1 Trillion) of our federal taxes directly on Healthcare programs, between Medicaid and Medicare.

My wife works for a good-sized hospital managing the department that's responsible for Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement, and we've discussed this at great length.

It's called the county hospital plus medicaid.

They get treatment via medicaid / medicare.

In the end, the guy was arrested for Medicare and Medicaid fraud - he had purchased a radiological service from a doctor that was retiring, and assumed that doctors identity.

> This March, a state legislator in Arkansas proposed a bill that would pay unwed, low-income mothers on Medicaid $2,500 to get an IUD.

It's more sustainable if you have US style welfare where benefits are things like wage subsidies, for a limited duration after employment, or in kind in some way like Medicaid or food stamps.

> Medicaid is only free if you've already become bankrupt.

Even with four programs which are often confused into just "Medicare and Medicaid" we don't hit that number.

When Medicare/Medicaid pays $150 for the same type of crutch that sells in a local pharmacy for $15, that difference does not go into "administrative expenses".

) And I see no signs the establishment GOP is truly interested in cutting "medicare/Medicaid/welfare", however much they might talk about cutting the latter two.

Medicaid is extremely cheap to free if you don't have an income, which is the premise of the question.

Poor Americans have had universal healthcare for a lot longer than just this century, via Medicaid.

He was charged with billing out $32 million in services that were never performed - $20M to Medicaid, $12M to Medicare.