Medicaid is not available for everyone who is low income or just down right poor. Maybe it depends on which state you live in, but if you think that just because you are low income you can get Medicaid, you better think again. I live in Indiana and here is what I experienced with Medicaid.
I was in a car accident in 2004, which fractured my L1 vertebrae among other things. I had to learn how to walk again in four days because I had no health insurance, and the hospital did not want me to stay there long because of it. I started out using a walker and within a week or two graduated to a cane. I was instructed not to lift anything, not to bend over, or basically do anything. I was simply told to go home and stay in bed for a while.
I was a single mother going to college at the time, and had very little money, and no health insurance. I applied for Medicaid in October of 2004 and waited, and waited, and waited some more. I had tried several times to contact the local welfare office, but I could never get a straight answer as to what was going on. My daughter was on Medicaid, so I called the number on the back of her Medicaid card.
I was told that I should have been given transitional Medicaid months ago, and that if it was not taken care of immediately to call her back and let her know. This woman also made a few calls for me. Within a couple of hours my phone was ringing, they had finally accepted me for Medicaid after over 4 months of waiting and thousands of dollars in medical bills destroying my credit.
I had this “transitional Medicaid” for approximately a year and they told me that the type of injury I had, in most cases, should not cause a person not to be able to work, so they took it back from me. I now live with chronic back pain on a daily basis and though I am now married, we cannot afford the high cost of family medical insurance from my husband’s employer. The costs they charge for family medical insurance would take half of his paycheck every 2 weeks, and with me not being able to work full time, we simply cannot afford it.
If you have been informed that the only qualification of getting Medicaid is being low income, you have been informed of false information. You can get Medicaid if you are proven to be disabled, or in some cases very seriously ill and low income. Keep in mind that they can decide at any time that you do not need health insurance or that you no longer qualify for Medicaid, and take it from you.