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KFF’s Survey of Medicaid Financial Eligibility for Older Adults & People with Disabilities, conducted in March 2025 by KFF and Watts Health Policy Consulting, provides a baseline of Medicaid eligibility as states return to normal operations after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic and ahead of potential changes to the Medicaid program.
This data note provides new information about waiting lists for Medicaid Home- and Community-Based Services, including a discussion of why waiting lists are an incomplete measure of unmet need and why they are not necessarily comparable across states or over time.
At the start of 2025, many issues are at play that will affect Medicaid coverage, financing, and access to care. While Medicaid was not discussed much on the campaign trail, Congress may consider big changes as part of tax and spending debates and the Trump administration may make changes to Medicaid through executive actions. Amid the potential changes, this brief highlights ten key things to know about Medicaid.
Nearly 1 in 4 Medicaid enrollees are eligible for the program because they are ages 65 and older or have a disability, and they have higher per-enrollee costs than other enrollees. Proposals to limit federal spending on Medicaid may create incentives for states to drop or reduce their eligibility or coverage for seniors and people with disabilities in response to fewer federal revenues. Considering the proposed reductions in Medicaid spending, this issue brief describes Medicaid eligibility pathways, enrollment, and spending among people eligible through the age and disability-related pathways.
This data note presents the latest state-level data about nonelderly Medicaid adults who have disabilities but do not quality for SSI and considers the implications for their continued coverage if the ACA expansion is invalidated by the Court.
This issue brief describes key characteristics of SSI enrollees, explains the SSI eligibility criteria and eligibility determination process, and considers the implications of changes in the SSI program for Medicaid, including the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic downturn as well as proposals supported by President Biden that Congress might consider.
This brief describes Medicaid’s role for nearly 7 million nonelderly adults with disabilities living in the community to help inform the debate about the American Health Care Act’s proposals to end enhanced federal funding under the ACA and reduce federal Medicaid funding under a per capita cap.
This report presents findings from a state survey about Medicaid Section 1115 capitated managed long-term care services and supports waiver enrollment, spending, and program policies for seniors and people with disabilities as of 2015.
This issue brief explains the variation in Medicaid spending per enrollee for seniors, nonelderly adults with disabilities, and children with disabilities compared to other populations as well as the variation in per enrollee spending for these populations among states. It also provides a snapshot of state choices about optional eligibility pathways and services important to many seniors and people with disabilities.
This issue brief analyzes key themes in 19 capitated § 1115 and § 1915(b)/(c) Medicaid managed long-term services and supports (MLTSS) waivers approved to date by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) with a focus on covered populations and services, provisions aimed at expanding beneficiary access to HCBS, beneficiary protections, and quality measurement and oversight.
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