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The Medicare Part D program provides an outpatient prescription drug benefit to 56 million older adults and people with long-term disabilities in Medicare who enroll in private plans. This brief analyzes Medicare Part D enrollment, premiums, and cost sharing in 2026 and trends over time, based on data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
More than half (55%) of eligible Medicare beneficiaries are enrolled in Medicare Advantage in 2026. To better understand trends in the growth of the Medicare Advantage program, this brief provides current information about enrollment, including by plan type and firm
The average Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplace deductible experienced the steepest increase in history—growing by 37% or over $1,000, from $2,759 in 2025 to $3,786 in 2026 as enhanced premium tax credits expired, according to a new KFF analysis. After the enhanced tax credits ended, many Marketplace shoppers shifted toward lower-premium, higher-deductible plans.
This analysis examines early indicators of how the expiration of enhanced premium tax credits has affected effectuated enrollment levels (i.e., enrollment among people who have paid their premiums), plan selections, and out-of-pocket costs in 2026, drawing on plan selection and effectuated enrollment data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and state-based Marketplace (SBM) Open Enrollment reports, as well as KFF survey data and individual market enrollment estimates from Wakely Consulting Group.
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”.
KFF hosted a virtual briefing focused on states’ efforts to implement these new Medicaid work and community engagement requirements, which have created new administrative demands on states at a time of federal funding cuts, slowing revenue growth, and increasing spending demands.
The 24th annual survey of state Medicaid and CHIP program officials conducted by KFF and the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families (CCF) provides a baseline of state Medicaid and CHIP eligibility, enrollment, and renewal policies in place as of January 2026 as they prepare to implement the changes included in the 2025 reconciliation law.
A new KFF survey of state Medicaid officials and focus groups in eight states captures the different choices states are making about how to implement Medicaid work requirements, with seven states planning for a more restrictive approach to verifying work or exemption status or to implement work requirements early. These implementation plans are taking shape as states encounter time, cost, and other constraints as well as uncertainty about how to define and verify certain exemptions…
This issue brief presents findings on policy decisions related to implementation of Medicaid work requirements. The findings draw on information from the annual survey of state Medicaid and CHIP program officials conducted by KFF and the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families for the 43 states (including DC) that will be required to implement work requirements and from focus groups with officials in eight states: Arizona, Indiana, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington.
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