Return to Videos Medicare is a federal system that is governed by the Federal Government and they take care of it. Medicaid is a state-wide system that's funded by both the State Government and the Federal Government. Their eligibility requirements for Medicare that you'll get it if you're retired. You'll get it after you've been disabled for two years. Then for Medicaid, you'll get it for a whole bunch of different reasons. In the state of Florida for example, if you're indigent or have children under the age of 18, you'll get it automatically. Medicaid is a very much more widely applied system of getting medical benefits to the poor. Medicare does not really care if you're poor or not because it's a federal system for the disabled and the retired.