How Health Insurance Works Health insurance is a vital part of our country’s health care system. It provides people with a safety net that helps them when they need it most. It covers preventive services and allows people to access the quality care they need, when they need it. It has filled gaps in health coverage for decades. It was once primarily a program for cash welfare recipients and seniors, but in the 1980s and 1990s, eligibility expandedto include many poor children, parents, and pregnant women who work. Thechanges helped cut child mortality and infectious disease rates, and researchsuggests that children on Medicaid are likelier to finish high school and earn more in adulthood.Medicaid is critical to the future of our nation’s health care system. In addition tocovering 97 million low-income Americans, it helps states control costs by reducinguncompensated hospital use and paying for services that would otherwise beunaffordable. It has also transformed the care of people with disabilities and seniors,shifting them out of nursing homes and into community-based services.As the ACA’s open enrollment period gets underway, our new “Medicaid Works” blog series aims to provide a full picture of this vital and popular health care program. AsCongress weighs structural changes that could mean deep cuts to Medicaid, theseposts will provide facts and figures to help inform the debateassurance santé