A comprehensive review of state Medicaid policies by the Kaiser Family Foundation shows the dramatic differences in access to the public health program between states.

Much of the focus on Medicaid in recent years has centered on whether states choose to accept an expansion of the program, nearly entirely federally-funded, to cover all residents with incomes up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

But even before PPACA, many policies regarding Medicaid eligibility differed significantly between the states. For some, Medicaid is a rather narrow program targeting only the very poorest residents or those considered to be a top priority for health care, such as children and pregnant women. For other states, Medicaid is a program that benefits many of the working poor and even middle class families.