Article snippet: One of the biggest flash points in the debate over Republican legislation to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act is the future of Medicaid. Here are some basic facts about the 52-year-old program. It’s a public health insurance program largely for low-income people, though some middle-class disabled and elderly people also qualify. States and the federal government share the cost. ■ Nearly one in five Americans, 74 million people, are on Medicaid. ■ Federal law guarantees Medicaid coverage to pregnant women, children, elderly and disabled people under certain income levels. ■ It covers more than a third of the nation’s children and pays for half of all births. ■ It also covers almost two-thirds of nursing home residents, including many who are middle class and spent of all their savings on care before becoming eligible. ■ States also have the option of covering other groups, like children and pregnant women whose household incomes are higher than the federal thresholds, or young adults up to age 26 who were once in foster care. ■ The Affordable Care Act allowed a new optional group: any adults with income up to 138 percent of the poverty level, which would be $16,643 for an individual this year. Thirty-one states now offer Medicaid to this group. ■ In 1965, as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s “Great Society.” ■ There was little political debate; the bigger fight was over creating Medicare, the program to cover the elderly, which Medicaid is often conf... Link to the full article to read more