State Advocacy
Pennsylvania Map: Understanding Medical Assistance, Pennsylvania's Health Care Safety Net
Pennsylvania’s Medical Assistance program provides health care to Pennsylvania’s most vulnerable citizens—the elderly, persons with intellectual, medical, mental health and/or physical disabilities, pregnant women, low income children, and families who are eligible financially and who do not have access to insurance.
Medical Assistance insures 17 percent of Pennsylvanians, or 2.1 million individuals statewide, of which:
- 44 percent are under 18.
- 22 percent are disabled.
- 10 percent are 65 or older.
In addition, statewide Medical Assistance:
- Covers 35 percent of all children and funds nearly half of all births, including providing necessary care for very sick infants.
- Finances the care of 65 percent of all elderly residents being cared for in nursing homes.
- Provides health coverage to a large share of the population in rural areas.
The proposed state budget makes a number of changes in the General Assistance program, a state-funded program for low-income adults, including elimination of cash grants to individuals/couples without children who have temporary or chronic disabilities, and increasing requirements, including a work requirement, for the categorically medically needy. These changes will impact individuals’ ability to access health care, which could result in more people delaying care until they are sicker, or going to emergency departments to get health care, which is more expensive.
Because of proposed budget changes, it is important to understand how many Pennsylvanians currently get Medical Assistance in counties across the state, to get a better idea of how many people are vulnerable to the loss of benefits or would be impacted by payment cuts.
To learn more about the people behind the Medical Assistance program in your community, click on a county on the map below.
Footnote:
The Medical Assistance data for children under 18 does not include children who receive health care through Pennsylvania’s Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
Federal law defines disability as the inability to engage in any substantial gainful activity by reason of a medically determined physical or mental impairment, which can be expected to result in death, or which has lasted or can be expected to last for a continuous period of not less than 12 months. At the state level, individuals with disabilities must meet the federal definition and meet income requirements. This can include individuals who are aged, disabled, and/or blind.
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