| Unlike Medicare which is 100% federally funded,
Medicaid is a federal state partnership that was authorized the same year as Medicare -
1965. The federal government pays approximately 60% of the cost of Medicaid, the
State of Nebraska pays about 40%. The Federal
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is the federal agency that is
responsible for this program and it sets minimum requirements.
If we choose to be in Medicaid, which every state has done, there is a mandatory
population to cover as well as an optional population. There are also mandatory services
as well as optional services. States are given the liberty to select the optional
populations and the optional services they will cover. As a result, Nebraska’s
Medicaid program is not as exactly the same as any other Medicaid program in the United
States. It’s one of the reasons it’s our responsibility to deal with our own
program. |
What is Medicaid?
 The Definition
The Programs
The National
Numbers
Comparison of NE
Medicaid and National Medicaid Totals
A Comphrehensive
Picture of NE Medicaid must: |
| If we as a state want to make
changes from the standard requirements whether it’s mandatory or optional, we have to
ask for a CMS waiver. In other words, we have to ask permission. Not knowing what
changes might occur at the federal level, if CMS makes changes in mandatory or optional
requirements that we don’t believe fit our needs, Nebraska will have to ask for a
waiver which CMS may or may not grant.
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