Medicaid is the largest source of funding for medical and health-related services for people with low income in the United States, providing free health insurance to 85 million low-income and disabled people as of 2022;
[3] in 2019, the program paid for half of all U.S. births.
[4] As of 2017, the total annual cost of Medicaid was just over $600 billion, of which the federal government contributed $375 billion and states an additional $230 billion.
[4] In general, Medicaid recipients must be
U.S. citizens or qualified non-citizens, and may include low-income adults, their children, and people with certain
disabilities.
[5] As of 2022, 45% of those receiving Medicaid or
CHIP were children.
[3]
Medicaid also covers long-term services and supports, including both nursing home care and home- and community-based services, for those with low incomes and minimal assets; the exact qualifications vary by state. Medicaid spent $215 billion on such care in 2020, over half of the total $402 billion spent on such services.
[6] Of the 7.7 million Americans who used long-term services and supports in 2020, about 5.6 million were covered by Medicaid.
[7]