AARP Medicaid Principles

Ensure adequacy, affordability, and equity—Medicaid should remain a vital safety net that guarantees adequate and affordable health care and long-term services and supports that meet the needs and preferences of all beneficiaries and recognize and assist their family caregivers. Medicaid should also cover a range of home- and community-based services that allow individuals to live as independently as possible. 

Ensure quality, efficiency, and program integrity—Medicaid should improve the quality and efficiency of care for beneficiaries, improve health equity, and maximize value for the program. Program waste, fraud, and abuse should be identified and eliminated. The process for doing so should not unduly burden beneficiaries. 

Provide sufficient and responsive federal funding—federal funding should be sufficient to account for the complex needs of beneficiaries and changes in states’ circumstances that affect program enrollment and costs. 

Provide state flexibility and accountability—states, supported by federal guidance and oversight, should have the flexibility to innovate and strengthen their programs in ways that do not cause harm to beneficiaries.