. >> and marilyn serafini with kaiser health news, special correspondent. thank you as marilyn. to just break down the difference between medicare and medicaid, two words that so often get confused and coed the accidentally say one when they mean the look, medicare is the program that everybody ages into at the age of 65. there are 47 million people in that program. and parts of it you get automatically. sparts parts you have to sign up for, but it's the program for seniors, and for many disabled people as well. who are under the age of 65. medicaid is a program for the poor. it's for people who are below, or at a certain level of poverty or close to poverty. it varies by state. it's a joint program between the federal government and the es it does vary. states -- federal requirements that certain income levels must covered, but some of the states exceed those guidelines and they cover more people. bigger program than medicare. medicaid currently covers 60 million people. >> the court hasing oral arguments in the mornings this week.ning today two issues, though, looking at sever

host: marilyn werber serafini?uest: if the individual mandate is struck down, many things could happen. it is possible a lot could disappear. that includes the medicaid expansion -- the whole law could disappear. that includes the medicaid expansion and the exchanges. the exchanges are set to go in 2014 and the insurers as part of this law have new requirements placed on them. for instance, they cannot pick and choose who they cover. there would be no pre-existing condition that they could deny people insurance. so, if the whole law goes away, that goes away also. the pressure on the insurance industry would not be increased, however if the court decides that the individual mandate can go away but the rest of the lost is in place, the insurance industry is calling to scream bloody murder. they will be unhappy with the idea that day will have to take everyone, the sicker people, but the healthier people might decide not to come in, and that makes it a lot more expensive for them. host: there is a story i am looking