You hear the term Medicaid and the phrase Medical Assistance, is there any difference?
Well Medicaid is the federal name for the program. It is run by the federal government Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
Medicaid is a federal program in which each State is invited to participate and create their own set of rules as long as they maintain the essentials of federal law in doing so. Pennsylvania calls their Medicaid program Medical Assistance.
California calls it Medi-Cal, Massachusetts: MassHealth, Vermont: Green Mountain Care, Oklahoma: Sooner Care, Delaware: Diamond State Health Plan (Plus) to name but a few.
So when you hear Medical Assistance in Pennsylvania, they are talking about Pennsylvania’s Medicaid program. Be careful in trying to learn about Medicaid using web searching. Every state has a different program and you might get bad information because you are reading about the laws of another state that differ from Pennsylvania.
Senior Care Resources provides expert guidance and assistance with Medicaid Applications for Long Term Care in western Pennsylvania.