Medicaid politics federalism, policy durability, and health reform - Thompson, Frank J. (Georgetown University Press, 2012)
Includes bibliographical references and index
Medicaid and the health care crucible -- Dodging the block grant bullet and other signs of resilience -- Beyond welfare medicine : the take-up challenge -- Government by waiver : the quest to transform long-term care -- Demonstration waivers and the politics of reinvention -- Reform : the politics of polarization -- Durability, federalism, and the future of medicaid
Medicaid, one of the largest federal programs in the United States, gives grants to states to provide health insurance for over 60 million low-income Americans. As private health insurance benefits have relentlessly eroded, the program has played an increasingly important role. Yet Medicaid?s prominence in the health care arena has come as a surprise. Many astute observers of the Medicaid debate have long claimed that?a program for the poor is a poor program? prone to erosion because it serves a stigmatized, politically weak clientele. Means-tested programs for the poor are often politically