This paper provides a detailed comparison of two healthcare programs, Medicare and Medicaid. It uses several aspects by which the two funds are compared. The second part of the paper provides the analysis of the qualitative research paper. Firstly, the type of article was analyzed. Moreover, it contains a summary of the methodology, purpose of study, and conclusion.
Differences between Medicare and Medicaid
According to French, Gooptu, Jones, & Nardi (2012), “Medicaid and Medicare were created by the Social Security Act Amendments of 1965” (p. 17). Even though these programs were established a long time ago, their popularity is rapidly growing in the United States of America. It can be explained by the fact that a significant amount of the population in the United States requires long-term care (Adams, Marek, Popojoy, Rantz, & Stenzer, 2012). Comparing these programs by the origin of the funding, social coverage, and availability of the services will help to determine the key differences between these programs.
The major difference between Medicare and Medicaid lies in the origin of the funding. According to Sheehan (2012), “Medicare is a federal-funded program for seniors ages 65 years and older” (p. 319). In turn, Medicaid is a federal-stated-funded program, this fact implies that the services are different in different states (Sheehan, 2012). Even though there is a dependence of Medicaid on federal funding, different states still have the ability to plan individually their implementation process and consider the availability of the required services (French et al., 2012).
The social coverage of both programs is also rather different. Medicare provides coverage for the elderly and certain people with disabilities (Adams et al., 2012). In turn, Medicaid covers people with low income and seniors who are older than 65 years and also uses Medicare (Adams et al., 2012). It can be said that Medicaid provides additional support for people who use Medicare and are older than 65 years.
Another important aspect, which differentiates Medicaid from Medicare, is the fact that Medicare offers insurance against a gigantic medical expenditure. Middle-income families, who have a high medical expenditure, also qualify for Medicare, even though Medicaid is meant for low-income households (French et al., 2012). This fact is similar to the statement mentioned in the previous paragraph, but it adds some important details to the analysis and explains Medicaid’s popularity not only among the elderly but also among young people.
Medicare and Medicaid are different in terms of services. For Medicaid, a wide range of services is provided inside and outside the home, but Medicare’s services are limited to “the intermittent skilled nursing care, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech-language pathology services” (Sheehan, 2012, p. 319). Moreover, a physician must order the required services for a patient, a patient has to be homebound, and as soon as medical services are no longer required, the services are terminated (Adams et al., 2012). This fact makes the Medicare program not suitable for those, who are chronically ill and require intensive care between exacerbations. It can be mentioned that Medicaid provides more opportunities and services for people who constantly need to monitor their illness condition.
In conclusion, it can be said that these programs are rather similar since both of them cover the healthcare of people older than 65 years. However, on the contrary, it has to be admitted that both programs have significant differences between each other. The major difference is the fact that Medicaid is available not only for people older than 65 years but also for households with low income. Additionally, middle-income families with high medical expenses also qualify for this program. This aspect makes Medicaid beneficial for a significant amount of American society. On the contrary, Medicare has a limited amount of services and strongly focuses on the elderly and people with disabilities. The main reason behind the dramatic differences between these insurance programs in service availability is the source of funding. Since a federal-state-funded program has more opportunities and additional funding, Medicaid has more opportunities and possibilities to deliver the demanded services.
Qualitative research analysis
“Having the right chemistry”: A qualitative study of mentoring in academic chemistry by Carr, Caswell, S., Inui, Jackson, Palepu, and Szalacha.
This part of the paper presents the qualitative research analysis. The main goal of the research was “To develop a deeper understanding of mentoring by exploring lived experiences of academic medicine faculty members” (Carr, Caswell, Inui, Jackson, Palepu, & Szalacha, 2003, p. 328). In the context of this research mentoring relationships are pivotal elements in building a successful career in the medical field.
This article can be referred to as phenomenological research design. The main goal of phenomenological studies is to describe the lived experiences, in most cases, there is little information collected about them (Donalek, 2004, p. 516). In the context of this research, the previous studies provided a limited amount of information since the researchers had a tendency to use the quantitative research method. Quantitative research tends to limit dramatically the research answers. In order to get more detailed answers, a qualitative method was used. Moreover, the main goal of the research was to describe and analyze the experiences in the mentoring field. Consequently, this research responds to the characteristics of a phenomenological study.
Speaking about the methodology, the researchers used in-depth telephone interviews in order to acquire detailed qualitative data. The main goal of the interview questions was to collect data related to a “review of the mentoring literature and the analysis of content from a focus group on mentoring” (Carr et al., 2003, p. 329). Firstly, the researchers chose a sample of the focus group. This sample helped them to develop the interview frame. The focus group participants were chosen according to the specific criteria which were related to the mentor’s presence in their life and mentor’s ability to encourage a person to do certain activities. Using this approach helped the researchers to include relevant questions in the interview. After the interview was constructed and approved, it was sent to the participants in advance. It allowed the participants to precisely answer the questions.
The results of the research revealed the complexity of mentoring in the medical field. It is hard to find a mentor who will successfully maintain the mentoring relationship with mentees. The participants of the research discovered the importance of finding a mentor at the beginning of their academic careers. Moreover, in the research, the potential characteristics of the mentor-mentee relationship were discovered. Such a complex and important factor as networking, which requires actions from mentor and mentee was also mentioned in the research study (Carr et al., 2003, p. 329).
References
Adams, S., Marek, K., Popojoy, L., Rantz, M., & Stetzer, F. (2012). Aging in place versus nursing home care: Comparison of costs to Medicare and Medicaid. Research in Gerontological Nursing, 5(2), 123-129.
Carr, W., Caswell, S., Inui, T., Jackson, V., Palepu, A., & Szalacha, L. (2003). “Having the right chemistry”: A qualitative study of mentoring in academic chemistry. Academic medicine, 3(78), 328-334.
Donalek, J. (2004). Demystifying nursing research: Phenomenology as a qualitative research method. Urologic Nursing, 24(5), 516–517.
French, M., Gooptu, A., Jones, E., & Nardi, D. (2012). Medicaid and the elderly. Economic Perspectives, 36(1), 17-19.
Kathleen, S. (2012). Medicare and Medicaid: different approaches to home health. Home Healthcare Nurse, 30(5), 319-320.