This fact sheet provides an overview of health coverage for noncitizens and discusses key issues for health coverage and care for immigrant families today.

Once states resume redeterminations and disenrollments at the end of the public health emergency (PHE), Medicaid enrollees who moved within a state during the pandemic but are still eligible for coverage are at increased risk of being disenrolled if their contact information is out of date. We analyzed federal survey data for 2020 and found that roughly 1 in 10 Medicaid non-elderly enrollees (9%) moved in-state in 2020. A much smaller share, just 1%, moved to a different state in the U.S. Individuals that move within state may continue to be eligible for Medicaid, while a move out of state would make them no longer eligible for Medicaid coverage in their previous residence. States can take a number of actions to update enrollees’ addresses and other contact information to minimize coverage gaps and losses for eligible individuals after the end of the PHE, particularly for individuals who may have moved within a state.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted and exacerbated longstanding racial and ethnic disparities in health and health care. In the past year, the federal government and many states have identified advancing health equity as a key priority for the Medicaid program, which is a major source of health coverage for people of color. This issue brief provides greater insight into the role Medicaid can play in advancing racial health equity.

As states plan for the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency, the resumption of eligibility redeterminations and disenrollments when the continuous Medicaid enrollment requirement is lifted could lead to coverage disruptions and losses, according to a new KFF 50-state survey. The requirement, a condition of states receiving enhanced federal…

Since 2000, KFF’s Program on Medicaid and the Uninsured has issued regular updates examining changes and trends in the eligibility rules, enrollment and renewal procedures and cost-sharing practices in Medicaid and CHIP. Those reports are compiled here.

The 20th annual survey of state Medicaid and CHIP program officials conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) and the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families in January 2022 presents a snapshot of actions states are taking to prepare for the lifting of the continuous enrollment requirement, as well as key state Medicaid enrollment and renewal procedures in place during the PHE.

Provisions in the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) require states to maintain continuous Medicaid enrollment for enrollees until the end of the month when the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) ends. When the continuous enrollment requirements end and states resume redeterminations and disenrollments, individuals with LEP may be at increased risk of losing Medicaid coverage or experiencing a gap in coverage due to barriers completing these processes, even if they remain eligible for coverage.

The COVID-19 pandemic has magnified pre-existing health disparities for justice-involved populations, with coronavirus infection rates among incarcerated populations higher than overall infection rates in nearly all states. Justice-involved individuals are disproportionately low-income and often have complex and/or chronic conditions, including behavioral health needs. Although the statutory inmate exclusion policy prohibits Medicaid from covering services provided during incarceration (except for inpatient services), states may take other steps to leverage Medicaid to improve continuity of care for justice-involved individuals.

For more than a year-and-a-half, the continuous enrollment requirement tied to enhanced Medicaid funding during the COVID-19 pandemic has all but halted enrollment “churn,” the temporary loss of coverage in which people disenroll from Medicaid and then re-enroll within a short period of time. Such disenrollments are expected to resume…

Recent policy actions and proposals in Medicaid have renewed focus on the problem of churn, or temporary loss of coverage in which enrollees disenroll and then re-enroll within a short period of time. We find that 10% of full-benefit enrollees have a gap in coverage of less than a year, and rates are higher for children and adults compared to aged and people with disabilities. Churn has implications for access to care as well as administrative costs faced by states.