Medicaid Matters to Alaska
Medicaid Matters to Alaska
You might be surprised to learn who is covered by Medicaid. They may be people you know – loved ones, neighbors or work friends. Read about families and individuals who needed help getting care in the past, or who depend on Medicaid now. They are grateful for the coverage. With regular, sometimes lifesaving care, they are hopeful for the future.
More than 210,000 Alaskans have Medicaid coverage. It’s keeping children healthy, taking care of our elderly and helping people get back on their feet. They are part of our human family, and each one deserves access to care.
For more than 210,000 children and adults across Alaska, Medicaid coverage helps keep them healthy or cares for them during vulnerable times of illness.
- A temporary helping hand: Medicaid often fills the coverage gap for a short time to help people get on their feet.
- Affordable coverage for working people: Medicaid covers working people who don’t have employer insurance or don’t make enough money to afford private insurance.
- Covers many working people: Six in 10 Alaska adults with Medicaid coverage are working. (not disabled or elderly)
- Care for veterans: Nearly one in 10 veterans has Medicaid coverage, and Alaska has the highest population of veterans per capita in the United States.
- Coverage for low-income children: The Medicaid Denali Kid Care program covers more than 92,000 low-income and disabled children. The vast majority come from working families.
- Care for fragile seniors: Medicaid supports 80 percent of all residents in nursing homes – our parents, grandparents and younger people with disabilities.
- Help with addiction: Medicaid provides treatment for 4 out of 10 people with opioid addiction, supporting the state’s focus on the national opioid epidemic.
- Ensures healthy babies: Nearly 50 percent of all births are covered by Medicaid, contributing to dramatic declines in infant and child mortality in our country since the 1960s.
- Supports vulnerable children: Medicaid covers nearly half of children, who have special health care needs.
- Helps children with mental health needs: Medicaid covers primary care for children’s mental health, including Alaska kids with individual education plans to help them succeed in school.
- Care for foster kids: Most foster children depend on Medicaid for their health care.
Many states give their Medicaid programs a unique name. See what Medicaid is called in your state.
If Medicaid has helped you, please take a minute and tell us.
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- Medicaid portraits across the U.S.
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- North Carolina awards $6 billion in Medicaid contracts
- In Utah and Idaho, G.O.P. looks to curb Medicaid expansions that voters approved