Medicaid Expansion Under the 2010 Health Care Reform Legislation: The Continuing Evolution of Medicaid’s Central Role in American Health Care

Abstract

Part of a symposium issue on the impact of federal health reform, this article argues that the expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act will eliminate the historical use of the Medicaid program to try to differentiate the “deserving” from the “undeserving” among low-income individuals and makes access to this form of health insurance available to a greater proportion of low-income individuals primarily on the basis of economic need. The article also identifies remaining challenges to the efficacy of this revised Medicaid program.