Medicaid (noun): Known to some as ‘health care for the poor,’ Medicaid is a government insurance program for adults and children who fall below a certain level of poverty. The program also provides health coverage for people with disabilities. Under the new health law, states have the option of expanding Medicaid to insure more people. Not all of them have done it, but many have.  Estimates are that an additional 17 million low-income people will get health care this way