Medicaid

US health-care programme for the poor and unemployed under the age of 65, administered by the state and jointly funded by the states and federal governments. Introduced in 1965 by President Lyndon B Johnson as part of his ‘Great Society’ welfare programme, it provides payment for medical treatments (as specified by the state) to the ‘medically indigent’ – persons in need of medical care whose monthly income falls below state-specified levels.

Federal spending on Medicaid was progressively reduced under the Republican presidencies of Ronald Reagan and George Bush. Under the terms of the 1996 Welfare Reform Act approved by Democrat president Bill Clinton, states are now empowered to deny Medicaid to non-citizens. Future legal immigrants will be denied Medicaid during their first five years in the USA.