What is Medicaid?
- Is largely a health insurance program for low-income and disabled people
- Covers health services for more than 300,000 Kansans
Who does it cover?
- More than half of the people covered are children
- Children, pregnant women, low income families,
- Adults with dependent children don’t qualify unless they earn less than 30% of the Federal Poverty Level, about $5,600 a year for a family of three
What does it cost?
- Costs $2.8 billion for next year (2nd largest expense in state budget), the federal government covers 60% or $1.7 billion
- About 1/3 of people covered by Medicaid are elderly or disabled but account for more than 3/4ths of the cost of the program. Children, families and pregnant women make up about 2/3 of the people on Medicaid but account for about 1/4 of the cost.
