Anytime a State decides to take part in Medicaid, they must be aware that there is a minimum set of benefits that they should offer for certain groups. They also have the choice to cover additional services and receive federal funds for the cost of those benefits. Nevertheless, the states count on flexibility to design their own benefits package and they will always vary from one state to another.

Among the basic services that must be included within all the packages offered, Medicaid beneficiaries are entitled to receive: nursing home care, hospital care (in as well as outpatients), physician services, x-ray and lab services, family planning services, periodic screening, treatments for children, family planning services, health center and rural health clinic services and nurse midwife and nurse practitioner services.

As said before, the states also have the choice to offer additional services and receive federal matching funds for those services. Within this modality, different kind of attentions can be provided such as prescription drugs, dental care and vision care, institutional care for mentally retarded individuals, personal care for individuals with disabilities, home and community care for elders.

The states manage their own policies of discretion surrounding the amount, duration and scope of the services that they give. Nevertheless, the one thing that must prevail always is that services must be “sufficient in amount, duration, and scope to reasonably achieve its purpose.” This means that the state is not entitled to limit the time coverage of the services provided by Medicaid. Moreover, the states must never condition the services based on the diagnosis or illness of the individual. For example, AIDS patients cannot be excluded from the services under any circumstance and the same goes for elders. AIDS patients and elders are two of the groups who use Medicaid more often.

View more Free Content by covermehealth at GetYourContent.com

Visit CoverMeHealthInsurance.com for all you need to know about Health Insurance Coverage.

Related News

Today's OpEds: Congressional Dealmaking, Cutting 'Honchos Pay,' Controlling Costs
Congressional Deals: Watching The Sausage Making Politico Legislators need pork to make things happen, especially in an age when chronic obstruction has so weakened the legislative process that policy breakthroughs are almost impossible. This does not excuse all kinds of deal making, nor should we ignore that deals sometimes go too far (Julian E. Zelizer, 3/10)...

Obama Makes Final Public Push For Health Reform As Democrats Consider Timeline
President Obama is delivering his "closing argument" for health care reform in St. Louis today as Democratic leaders strategize on moving the bill through the House and Senate.The Associated Press: "Obama is to speak Wednesday at St. Charles High School, his second health care address in three days...

GOP Putting Strategies In Place To Thwart Dems On Reform
Politico: "When Mitch McConnell speaks these days, he expects House Blue Dogs to be listening...

Senate Poised To Pass COBRA Subsidy Extension, Medicare 'Doc Fix'
The Senate is set to vote Wednesday on a jobs bill that would extend the COBRA subsidy program and Medicaid funding for states and prevent a Medicare reimbursement cut for doctors. The Associated Press: The bill "extends health insurance subsidies for the unemployed through December. It would add $132 billion to the budget deficit over the next year and a half. ...

Non-Profit Operations Plugging Health Care Gap In Chicago
Medill Reports presents a story on community health centers in Chicago that try to fill access-to-care gaps for people too sick to get health care coverage or too poor to afford other care. "Community health centers ... are private, non-profit operations that fill a gap between for-profit health systems and free public health clinics...

States' Legislative Health Initiatives Stall
The Boston Globe: "A group of Massachusetts mayors, fed up with what they say is legislative inaction on skyrocketing municipal health care costs, has launched a ballot initiative for 2012 aimed at giving cities and towns more flexibility in reducing expensive benefits for employees, retirees, and elected officials" (Murphy, 3/10)...

Hoyer Pledges To Work With Stupak To Address Abortion Coverage In Health Reform
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) on Tuesday pledged to work with Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) to resolve the dispute over abortion-coverage language in the Senate health reform bill (HR 3590), CQ Today reports. Hoyer said the issue "has to be resolved," adding, "I think it will be resolved one way or the other, and the bill will be passed...

Abortion Holding Up Democrats' Endgame On Health Overhaul
Politico: House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer "said Tuesday that the abortion fight 'has to be resolved.' The majority leader expressed confidence that the issue would be wrapped up, but he also cautioned reporters that he had not had any formal negotiations with Rep. Bart Stupak, the Michigan Democrat who authored the House abortion restrictions. ...

Pro-And Anti-Health Reform Groups Wage Last Minute Attacks
Stephan Payne protested abuses by health insurance companies and pushed for health care reform during a rally Tuesday. The rally was organized by Health Care for America Now and coincided with an annual conference for health insurance executives in D.C...

Lincoln, Kucinich Weigh In On Health Bill Votes
Lawmakers weigh in on the health care overhaul debate. The Associated Press/The Washington Times: Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., "insisted Tuesday she remained opposed to pushing a health care bill through the Senate with a simple majority vote, despite saying she wanted to see what was in the legislation...