Medicare Vs Medicaid

Medicare vs Medicaid, what to know in under 5 minutes!

Medicare versus Medicaid, what are the differences between the two of them
​and how do they work together?

Medicare vs Medicaid

Hi, my name is Jo Hutchison. I am an independent health and Medicare advisor with Founders Life & Health. We are based here in beautiful St. Louis, Missouri, but we help people all over the country with their Medicare and individual health choices.

Today we are going to talk about Medicare versus Medicaid. I often have people get the two confused or just generally don't know what each is or how they work together. So that's what we're going to chat about today.

Let's start with Medicare. What is Medicare?  Medicare is a federally-based program, mostly for people that are 65 and older, but it is also available to anyone under 65 that's on disability.  Most of the people that use Medicare are 65 and older. If you want to learn more about Medicare, I have a video that I'll put a link to right here that's going to tell you everything you need to know about Medicare, the basics, how much it costs, how you need to enroll, all those things. 

 For the purposes of this explanation, Medicare is a federally-based program
​generally for people 65 and older.

Then what is Medicaid? Well, Medicaid is a little bit different in that it is a state based program. All of the Medicaid programs in the country are going to be run independently by each state depending on where you live. It is also not based on your age. It is more available and based on your income. 

When you are applying for Medicaid, they will be looking at the amount of income
​you have versus how old you are.

In order to qualify for Medicaid, you have to apply for Medicaid and a number of criteria have to fall into place.

• You have to be a citizen of the United States.
• You  have to be a resident of the state in which you are applying, because like I said, Medicaid is a state-based program.
• Your income has to qualify, it has to be low enough that the state deems that you are in need of additional assistance.

Something important to remember as far as Medicaid goes is that depending on the state that you live in, it might be called something different other than Medicaid. For example, I have clients in Tennessee and in Tennessee, the Medicaid program there is called TennCare. Here in the state of Missouri, the Medicaid program is called MO HealthNet. Every state might have their own kind of branded program. You will hear it called various names depending on state you're in.

If you need assistance looking into what's available in your state and you're not exactly sure what it's called, you can Google that. You can also reach out to somebody like myself that can help get you in touch with those resources. But just to help clarify some of the confusion, it's not always just called Medicaid.

One added piece of info about Medicare versus Medicaid is that they can actually work together. You can be on Medicare and on Medicaid at the same time. So if you're over 65 and you qualify for Medicare and you also financially qualify for additional assistance through your state, then your state can coordinate directly with the federal Medicare program so that you can get assistance from both simultaneously.

If you are on Medicaid currently and you're getting ready to turn 65,  consult with someone to help figure out which plans are going to work best to put both together because  you will have one of those special needs/dual eligible plans. There are  lots of different options. All of the major carriers carry dual eligible plans. You can talk to me, or talk to anybody in your area that knows a little bit about how the special needs plans work and get enrolled in something that will have both plans working together

If you have any additional questions or if you need help figuring out how to get your plans to work together, please don't hesitate to reach out. We're based here in St. Louis, Missouri, but we work all over the country and our services are free to you. So don't hesitate to ask any questions and thank you so much for reading.

Author

Hello! I’m Jo Hutchison and I’m the owner of Founders Life & Health. I’m a proud baseball mom, lover of live music and all things potato.. My husband and I have two great boys and two lazy hound dogs. My boys play a LOT of baseball so when I’m not helping my clients we can almost always be found on a baseball field somewhere in the Midwest.

I'm a member of NAIFA (National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors) and a member of NAHU (National Association of Health Underwriters). I spend a good deal of my time working on educational outlets and working on healthcare policy change to help bring comprehensive and AFFORDABLE coverage to everyone. Nothing makes me happier than sharing the tidbits of knowledge that I know about the Medicare and health insurance world so people can make the most informed decisions about what plans they need.

​The most important thing that I have learned through the years in this business is that each client has very different needs. Our goal is to listen to you, assess your needs, and use our experience and knowledge to help you make informed decisions about your health care coverage. We are an independent brokerage so we advocate for our clients, not the insurance companies.