Medicaid beneficiaries can be a particularly challenging population to serve. Too often they experience exaggerated health problems that are exacerbated, in many instances, by a long history of being left behind by the health care system. They face an uphill battle getting to doctor's appointments because they lack transportation, or they have trouble negotiating the health delivery system because of limited knowledge about the process and their health conditions. At the same time, the Medicaid-eligible population continues to grow, straining state budgets. To help remove the barriers to care while keeping costs down, Medicaid program administrators have partnered with managed care plans. In response, Medicaid managed care plans have cultivated relationships with grassroots organizations to develop community-centric programs that more effectively reach out to this targeted population of mothers, underserved children and teens, individuals with chronic health conditions, and the culturally and linguistically diverse.
医疗补助计划的受益人群可能是特别具有挑战性的服务对象。他们常常遭遇夸大的健康问题，在很多情况下，由于长期被医疗保健系统忽视，这些问题会愈发严重。他们在前往看医生的预约时面临艰难斗争，因为缺乏交通工具，或者由于对就医流程和自身健康状况了解有限，在与医疗服务体系打交道时遇到困难。与此同时，符合医疗补助条件的人口持续增加，给州预算带来压力。为了在控制成本的同时帮助消除医疗障碍，医疗补助计划的管理人员已与管理式医疗计划合作。作为回应，医疗补助管理式医疗计划与基层组织建立了关系，以制定以社区为中心的项目，从而更有效地接触到这一目标人群，包括母亲、服务不足的儿童和青少年、患有慢性健康问题的个人，以及文化和语言背景各异的人群。
