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Because private health insurance is beyond the means of many Americans to afford, the government provides several forms of public health insurance. The most well known of these programs are Medicaid and Medicare, insurance money provided to the states to administer to families with a lower income, needy children, and senior citizens.

Although the federal government provides most of the money and a set of general guidelines for these programs, it is up to each state to provide its portion of the money, administer the funds, and run the programs. This is the reason for some variation of standards and practices from state to state.

Medicaid is the public health insurance program created to serve those who are disabled or who have such a low income that they meet the state criteria set for eligibility. Currently, over thirty-five million people receive some type of assistance through this public health insurance program. At one point in time, people with disabilities would lose this insurance coverage if they took a job. In 1999, however, Congress passed a law that allows these working individuals to purchase health coverage through Medicaid.

Though the programs have some similarities and people sometimes confuse them, Medicare is different from Medicaid. Medicare covers over forty million Americans who are over the age of sixty-five. It also has provisions for some of those with disabilities and all people with end stage renal disease. This public health insurance program is limited to United States Citizens or to immigrants who have legally lived in the country for at least five years. Medicare not only provides some help with doctors' fees and hospital charges, but it also gives some options that help with prescription drug coverage.

Two other public health insurance programs serve a more limited section of the population. These are TRICARE and Veteran's Health Care. These programs ensure that current members of the United States military forces, both past and present and their families have access to good healthcare. The Indian Health Service administers another public health service to the American Indian population.

In additional to these federal programs, all states offer public health insurance programs for those who fall into the gap and don't qualify for any of these. Using money from the State's Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), a plan under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, these state programs provide for the children of family's who make more than the limits established for qualification in the Medicaid guidelines, but they don't have enough income to purchase private insurance. Most of these programs include some type of dental and vision benefits as well.

Although many people are still unaware of these public health insurance programs intended to make health care accessible to the needy, they are available to children under the age of eighteen. Guidelines do vary from state to state, but, in most states, a family of four who make less than $35,000 a year could qualify if they don't qualify for Medicaid.

For more information on health insurance, visit http://www.publicinsurance.org

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