An overview of health insurance coverage for seniors.
Health insurance is one of the most confusing issues facing individuals today.
An outgrowth of these negotiations was the evolution of major medical health plans to cover catastrophic care in the hospital. These were designed to pay for costs not covered by Medicare. Meanwhile, Medicaid was designed to as a federal mandate to provide health care for the poor. Many of the elderly qualify in this category and are now eligible for health care services paid for by Medicaid. In the throes of run-away health care costs and in response to health care reform initiatives developed by President Clinton shortly after he took office in 1992, the HMO movement began in earnest.