What is Medicaid?

---

Medicaid is free or low-cost health insurance for people who qualify based on income and disability status.  It is jointly funded by WA and the federal government. The federal government sets guidelines that states must adhere to when setting their own reimbursement rates. 

The Washington state Medicaid program is called Washington Apple Health. At this time, the majority of Apple Health plans are managed by other insurance companies including: Molina, Coordinated Care, Community Health plan of WA, Amerigroup, and United Healthcare.

We fully support programs that allow people to access much needed healthcare, but the reimbursement rates offered to providers is so low, it is not sustainable for the provider. Often times, this very low reimbursement rate makes it near impossible to access healthcare anyway because providers cannot afford to take on the financial burden. Though it looks like care is covered on paper, in reality services are not available.

While inflation and cost of living continues to go up, Medicaid reimbursement has gone down. Providers are forced to make cost-cutting decisions that don't always align with what is best for the patient. Some providers limit the number of folks on Medicaid at any given time to control the loss of income. Some providers decrease the length of time spent with folks on Medicaid, sometimes against best practice recommendations. Some providers choose to simply not accept Medicaid. 

Clinics who are committed to providing as much care for folks on Medicaid as possible have difficulty recruiting the most talented providers because it is difficult to offer them competitive rates. Competitive wages for healthcare providers are commonly higher than what practices are reimbursed for the services they provide.

Catalyst Community is creating grants to bridge the gap in funding so that Whatcom County is a place where everyone with a need has access to state of the art care.