Current Healthcare Situation Given the state of the economy over the last few years, it is no wonder that many industries are facing difficulties. It express world renowned news that American banks were facing economic struggles and had to, “be bailed out by the United States government through the emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008” (Steverman, 2008). During the same year, the automobile industry requested $34 billion to aid in their economic struggles (Romney, 2008). Given this chain of events, it should come as no surprise that the health care industry is also facing economic constraints and states, in a frenzy to save money and federal programs, have been forced to slash budgets and cut services in the Medicaid sector. Not all healthcare services will remain at the clinic, but it is important that eliminations do not affect the majority healthcare needs of the Medicaid and Medicare population. These changes are in benefit flexibility, cost sharing, enrollment expansions and caps, privatization, and program financing.
Enrollment Expansion and Caps With the economic struggles faced in the banking and automotive industries, millions of Americans found themselves unemployed. With unemployment come a lack of financial resources and an inability to afford some of life’s necessities, including private sector health insurance.
Medicaid
With slow job growth and lack of reserve finances, many Americans applied for and began receiving Medicaid, a federally and state funded insurance geared to help pay health care expenses for people and families with low income (Dumas, Hall, & Garrett, 2008). They could receive them, due to; many of these recent changes were brought about not through legislation but through waivers of federal requirements. Medicaid waivers allow the federal government, as a long-standing statutory authority, to permit states to alter