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KFF’s policy research provides facts and analysis on a wide range of policy issues and public programs.
KFF designs, conducts and analyzes original public opinion and survey research on Americans’ attitudes, knowledge, and experiences with the health care system to help amplify the public’s voice in major national debates.
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Medicaid Watch was a 2025 series featuring policy research, polling and news about the Medicaid financing debate. This series is no longer active. For the latest publications on Medicaid, please visit this page.
This analysis examines the potential impacts on states and Medicaid enrollees of eliminating the 90% federal match rate for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) expansion. Eliminating the federal match rate for adults in the Medicaid expansion could reduce Medicaid spending by nearly one-fifth ($1.9 trillion) over a 10-year period and up to nearly a quarter of all Medicaid enrollees (20 million people) could lose coverage.
This brief considers options under consideration to cut Medicaid spending by $2.3 trillion over ten years and their potential impact on people with disabilities. Policy changes such as per capita caps, reduced federal funding for the ACA expansion, and Medicaid work requirements could require states to limit coverage, reduce benefits, or cut provider payments. Given their higher health care costs and reliance on Medicaid for essential services, people with disabilities could be especially affected.
In a new column, KFF President and CEO Drew Altman discusses what President Trump’s decision to pull back the broad freeze in federal grant funding might portend for his response to future policies in health that prove controversial or unpopular.
Medicaid represents $1 out of every $5 spent on health care in the U.S. and is the major source of financing for states to provide health coverage and long-term services and supports for low-income residents. This brief examines key questions about Medicaid financing and how it works.
Section 1115 Medicaid demonstration waivers offer states an avenue to test new approaches in Medicaid that differ from what is required by federal statute. Nearly all states have at least one active Section 1115 waiver and some states have multiple 1115 waivers. This brief explains what Section 1115 waivers are and how they are used, summarizes key waiver requirements, and outlines the application and approval process.
In 2025, many issues are at play that could affect Medicaid coverage, financing, and access to care.
With Donald Trump returning to the presidency and Republican control of the Senate and House, work requirements are likely to be back on the agenda—through federal legislation or Medicaid waivers. This issue brief highlights the history of Medicaid work requirements, describes recent state activity to advance work requirement policies, and recaps the landscape of work requirement approvals and pending requests at the end of President Trump’s first term.
With Donald Trump returning to the presidency, the future of Medicaid is uncertain. While Medicaid did not receive a lot of attention directly during the campaign, Trump’s first term can shed light on potential changes that could be implemented administratively without Congress.
Medicaid financing is complex. This policy watch explains how Medicaid financing works, describes various conservative proposals to change Medicaid financing, and explores the implications of those changes for states and enrollees.
This page provides access to the reports stemming from the 50-state Medicaid budget surveys published annually since 2000 by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF). It tracks trends in Medicaid spending and enrollment, as well as Medicaid policy actions around eligibility and enrollment, provider rates, provider taxes/fees, premiums and cost-sharing, benefits and pharmacy, long-term care and delivery system and payment reform.
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