Beginning in 2014, state Medicaid programs—which provide health coverage to low-income Americans will be expanded to cover all individuals under age 65 with incomes up to 133% of the federal poverty level ($14,400 for an individual or $29,300 for a family of four in 2010). The new law creates a uniform Medicaid eligibility level and income definition across all states and eliminates a prohibition that prevented states from providing Medicaid coverage to adults without dependent children except under a waiver of federal rules. Undocumented immigrants are not eligible for Medicaid regardless of their income, and legal immigrants who have resided in the U.S. for less than five years are also not eligible, though states have the option of extending Medicaid coverage to legal immigrant children and pregnant women who are in the 5-year waiting period. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that 16 million people will gain coverage through the Medicaid expansion by 2019.

Medicaid and CHIP , Health Coverage and the Uninsured