Medicare vs. Medicaid - Essay Example

Compare Medicare and Medicaid Assistance Programs and Explain How Each Program Impacts a Health Care Professional Medicaid and Medicare are health and medical programs funded by the Federal government. Both programs accommodate different enrollees and are used to help cover health costs. Medicare is the largest health insurance covering hospital and medical care for citizens at 65 years or older, some beneficiaries of the Social security disability and in some states it is expanded to citizens with permanent kidney failure.

This program consists of four parts labeled A-D (Stanfield, Hui & Cross 2011).Part A, referred to as Hospital insurance, financed by the Social security taxes. It covers inpatient expenses such as rooms, meals and tests. Part B, known as supplementary medical insurance pays for necessary doctor, laboratory and some outpatient medical costs. It is financed by premiums paid by enrollees. Part C is the Medicare Advantage Program through which private plans provide benefits to enrollees. Part D is a prescription drug plan that covers some costs of drug and is extended to anyone eligible for Medicare.

Taxes collected through the Federal insurance Contributions Act and Self employment Contributions fund the program. The government uses this to refund the services providers (Stanfield, Hui & Cross 2011).On the other hand, Medicaid is the second largest health insurance program that serves low income citizens. Each state has its own Medicaid eligibility criteria. Recipients include children under 6years and family income is at or below 133% of Federal poverty level, adults, elderly (over 65 years) and disabled persons who have no or no income and receive state assistance such as foster care assistance (Stanfield, Hui & Cross 2011).

As mandated by the Federal government, Medicaid covers the cost of outpatient and inpatient care, family planning services, laboratory tests, X-rays, transportation, rehabilitation and physical therapy services. Payments by the State are made to the healthcare providers based on a fee for service terms or through health maintenance organizations. Then each state is reimbursed for a share of their Medicaid expenditure. Beneficiaries are exempted from copayments from family planning and emergency services.

Both Medicaid and Medicare have had an impact on all stake holders. These programs have increased the number of citizens seeking medical and health services, therefore, is predicted growth in employment in the health sector. Demand for primary care is on the rise especially from physicians and nurses with advanced degrees. According to Stanfield, Hui & Cross (2011), as more procedures are being carried out of the hospital, this means that there is a demand for skilled laboratory personnel. Computerization of records has increased opportunities in records management and health information technology.

Electronic data are expected to ease research in areas of diagnostic and treatment procedures to improve on quality of care and control costs associated with manual data collection. This will raise the demand for health care professional with extra competencies in business and statistics.Rehabilitation experts in areas of speech, occupation and physical therapy are expected to be on the increase as their demand rises. As the healthcare sector undergoes reforms, there is expected rise in demand for health services and consequently workers.

However, a shortage of all health workers looms because of the disparity between greater demand from the aging population and increased access to health and medical care (Stanfield, Hui & Cross 2011).ReferenceStanfield, P. S., Hui, Y. H. & Cross, N. (2011) .Introduction to the Health Profession. Burlington: Jones & Bartlett Publishers.