Medicaid: What to Watch in 2022
As 2022 kicks off, a number of issues are at play that could affect coverage and financing under Medicaid. This issue brief examines key issues to watch in Medicaid in the year ahead.
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As 2022 kicks off, a number of issues are at play that could affect coverage and financing under Medicaid. This issue brief examines key issues to watch in Medicaid in the year ahead.
Millions of people are losing jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic and seeking financial assistance through Unemployment Insurance (UI) programs. While UI can provide an important source of temporary assistance for many people losing jobs, there have been reports of major challenges accessing UI benefits. Over time, states have significantly streamlined Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) application and enrollment processes to overcome many similar challenges to connect eligible people to health insurance coverage. As such, previous experience enrolling individuals into Medicaid and CHIP can provide lessons learned that could help inform efforts to connect people to UI. This brief summarizes some key lessons learned and discusses how states could potentially apply these lessons to UI.
The coronavirus pandemic has generated both a public health crisis and an economic crisis, with major implications for Medicaid, a countercyclical program. During economic downturns, more people enroll in Medicaid, increasing program spending at the same time state tax revenues may be falling. To help support states as enrollment in Medicaid grows and ensure existing enrollees maintain continuous coverage, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) authorized a 6.2 percentage point increase in the federal match rate (“FMAP”) (retroactive to January 1, 2020) available if states meet certain “maintenance of eligibility” (MOE) requirements. This brief provides some early insights into the current picture of Medicaid spending and enrollment, as Congress considers providing additional fiscal relief through the federal Medicaid match rate.
Many states that shared budget projections in response to a new KFF survey of state Medicaid officials report that they expect to see Medicaid budget shortfalls due to rising Medicaid spending and enrollment as people lose jobs amid the coronavirus pandemic and more people enroll in the government health insurance program for low-income people.
This brief summarizes state changes to Medicaid and CHIP eligibility and enrollment policies in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, beyond those required to access enhanced federal funding. It is based on KFF analysis of approved Medicaid and CHIP state plan amendments (SPAs) and information on state websites as of May 21, 2020.
On August 31, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid released a proposed rule to create more uniform processes across states that will make it easier for eligible people to obtain and maintain coverage in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
This brief gauges Medicaid enrollees’ knowledge of the Medicaid renewal process and possible disenrollment, following the end of continuous enrollment on March 31, 2023.
A KFF survey of Medicaid enrollees largely fielded prior to states resuming their efforts to redetermine Medicaid enrollees’ eligibility reveals many enrollees are unprepared for the renewal process that could result in some losing their coverage either due to eligibility changes or paperwork issues.
As states begin to unwind the COVID emergency continuous enrollment provision and resume Medicaid disenrollments, early data from a handful of states – highlighted on KFF’s regularly-updated Medicaid Enrollment and Unwinding Tracker -- reveal wide variation in disenrollment rates.
This brief reviews what we know about Medicaid enrollment changes during economic downturns, examines unemployment-linked Medicaid enrollments early on in the COVID-19 pandemic, and considers the implications for the unwinding of the national public health emergency (PHE).
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