Medicaid was created so that people who did not have access to health insurance for various reasons, such as not being employed, working part time, or living in poverty, could get health insurance. A government funded program, Medicaid has been in existence for about 40 years, the program being revamped and changes throughout the last four decades (The centers for Medicare and Medicaid services: guidance to the states on the low-income subsidy, 2009).

However, problems have resulted from Medicaid, such as the government struggling to finance the program at times and some political leaders, mainly Republicans feeling that people on Medicaid are lazy and taking advantage of the system. Medicaid fraud has been a problem, some medical professionals billing Medicaid for services that were never provided (The centers for Medicare and Medicaid services: guidance to the states on the low-income subsidy, 2009).

There have been some theories that have proposed to explain why some individuals feel that people on welfare are lazy and are responsible for their plight. The Blame Approach states that people are held responsible for their own problems, such as being poor and needing to be on Medicaid (Zur, 1997-2015 ). I feel that the cause of the problem has been a lack of education, discrimination against certain groups, and poverty that is hard to get out of that has keep certain individuals oppressed and in need of Medicaid and other services.

The original objectives of the Medicaid policy, signed into a law by President Lyndon Johnson in 1965, was to provide health coverage program for people on welfare and people who have a low income population. The expectation was that most people who have access to health insurance services. The values underlying the objectives are that everybody should have access to health care, even poor people, which is why Medicaid was created (The centers for Medicare and Medicaid services: guidance to the states on the low-income subsidy, 2009).

Policymakers expected that as result of the policy, more people would be able to get health insurance and older people and individuals with disabilities would be able to get expenses covered, which would decrease the financial burden on society. Decreasing the financial burden would be considered a covert objective of the policy. Direct targets of Medicaid are people who qualify for the program, while indirect targets are family members of Medicaid recipients.

Lawmakers expected that Medicaid would resolve the problem of getting people in poverty on Medicaid so they could get health insurance. However, lawmakers did not anticipate some problems that would come about, such as Medicaid Fraud and the financial burden on the government, as well as other citizens and political leaders resenting people who get Medicaid.
Short range effects of the Medicaid policy include people getting health insurance coverage on Medicaid, while long range effects include needing much money to finance the programs and the Medicaid program being overloaded, especially during economic recessions (The centers for Medicare and Medicaid services: guidance to the states on the low-income subsidy, 2009).

Since Obama Care has been implemented, the Medicaid program has been expanded to help more people get on the program, people who cannot get health insurance any other way. The qualifications to get on Medicaid have been less restrictive. An alternative policy that would help to advance social justice and address people who cannot afford health insurance is to have the same health insurance for everybody that the government funds. Not allowing drug companies to control the health insurance industry and making sure that the health insurance industry is not for profit would help and make the health insurance industry more ethical. Even though some people object to the Medicaid program, claiming that its recipients are often lazy and a burden on society, Medicaid has helped many people get health insurance and access to other free and reduced cost services.