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This brief reports on rural and urban health center patients and financing in 2025 using national data from the Uniform Data System (UDS) and examines potential impacts of recent federal policy changes.
Approximately 12 million people are enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid, referred to as dual-eligible individuals. This brief examines the demographic, socioeconomic, and health characteristics of dual-eligible individuals compared with Medicare beneficiaries without Medicaid.
This issue brief analyzes provides a profile of enrollment and spending on dual-eligible individuals, drawing on new analysis of data on chronic conditions to show how higher rates of chronic conditions contribute to higher average spending among this population.
Chip talks with Dr. Toyin Ajayi, co-founder and CEO of Cityblock Health, which delivers value-based care to more than 100,000 Medicaid and dual-eligible members across ten states, many of them people of color managing chronic conditions. Ajayi makes a pointed case: Roughly 60 percent of health care AI investment goes to billing, coding, and risk adjustment — making sure someone gets paid — while only a fraction goes to delivering care. If we continue to…
This brief presents key facts and analysis about affordability of health care costs among people with Medicare, including younger adults with long-term disabilities, drawing on data from various sources.
On May 22, the House passed a reconciliation bill, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which would partially pay to extend expiring tax cuts by cutting Medicaid. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that the bill would reduce federal Medicaid spending by $793 billion over ten years and 10.3 million fewer people would be enrolled in Medicaid in 2034, including 1.3 million people with Medicare, otherwise known as “dual-eligible individuals”.
This brief provides an overview of the Medicare Advantage plans that are available for 2026 and key trends over time. In 2026, the average Medicare beneficiary has a choice of 32 Medicare Advantage prescription drug (MA-PD) plans, two fewer than the 34 in 2025. Virtually all Medicare Advantage plans for 2026 provide multiple extra benefits like vision, hearing, and dental benefits, similar to last year.
To better understand the growing role of Special Needs Plans (SNPs) in Medicare Advantage, this brief examines SNP enrollment trends using recent Medicare Advantage enrollment data published by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
Proposed changes in eligibility rules in both SNAP and Medicaid may jeopardize some people’s access to both adequate food and health care if various provisions of the bill take effect, in part because there is a significant overlap in eligibility requirements for Medicaid and SNAP across states. Four in 10 (40%) Medicaid enrollees receive SNAP benefits.
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