Medicaid

Medicaid work requirements

Medicaid and the Road Ahead: Spending Cuts, Work Requirements and What’s Next for States, Providers and Families

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Passed last year, President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act made significant changes to Medicaid—the primary insurance provider for health and long-term care for people with low incomes. These changes are expected to lead to coverage loss for many current enrollees and will reduce funding for Medicaid, placing new financial pressures on states and health care providers. On July 23, KFF and States Newsroom hosted an event focused on the impacts of work requirements and other federal policy changes on states, health care systems, and people.

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understanding medicaid

Medicaid Financing

Medicaid represents $1 out of every $5 spent on health care in the U.S. and is the major source of financing for states to provide health coverage and long-term care. This brief examines key questions about Medicaid financing and how it works.

Medicaid Program Integrity

This brief explains what is known about improper payments and fraud and abuse in Medicaid and describes ongoing state and federal actions to address program integrity.

Medicaid and Provider Taxes

All states except Alaska cover some state Medicaid costs with taxes on health care providers. This brief uses data from KFF’s 2024-2025 survey of Medicaid directors to describe current practices and the federal rules governing them.

Medicaid and Hospitals

Absorbing reductions in Medicaid spending could be challenging for hospitals, particularly for those that are financially vulnerable. This brief provides data on the reach of Medicaid across hospitals, patients, and charity care.

Medicaid Home Care

This issue brief provides an overview of what Medicaid home care (also known as “home- and community-based services”) is, who is covered, and what services were available in 2025.

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  • A Look at How Medicaid Agencies Are Assisting with the COVID-19 Vaccine Roll-Out

    Issue Brief

    As of February 2021, there are three COVID-19 vaccines approved for emergency use in the U.S. and states are playing a central role in their timely distribution and prioritizing eligible populations. Because Medicaid covers for over 77 million enrollees, including groups disproportionately at risk of contracting COVID-19 as well as hard-to-reach groups, Medicaid agencies can be important partners for the public health agencies that are typically leading the state COVID-19 vaccination efforts. This brief provides…

  • COVID-19 Long-Term Care Deaths and Cases Are at An All-Time Low, Though A Rise In LTC Cases In A Few States May Be Cause for Concern

    Issue Brief

    This data note looks at state-reported LTCF data from 41 states plus Washington DC to assess what has happened to new deaths and cases in LTCFs in the four months since vaccinations began on December 21st, 2020. We also examine how recent changes in deaths and cases in LTCFs have shifted the nature of the pandemic outside of LTCFs. Data in this analysis is as of the week of April 11th, 2021.

  • What Are Some Policy Options for Reaching the 2.2 Million Uninsured People in the ACA’s “Coverage Gap”?

    News Release

    A new KFF issue brief explores several potential policy options that would help close the Affordable Care Act’s "coverage gap," including providing further new incentives for states to expand Medicaid, creating a new "public option" or extending ACA Marketplace premium subsidies to low-income people who don’t currently qualify for federal help. At stake is affordable health coverage for 2.2 million uninsured people with incomes below the federal poverty level ($12,880 annually for an individual in…

  • Analysis Examines Insurance Coverage, Affordability and Access to Home and Community-Based Services for Children with Special Health Care Needs

    News Release

    A new KFF analysis examines key characteristics of children with special health care needs, the affordability and adequacy of their health coverage, and the implications for such children of potential new federal Medicaid money to assist families in caring for them. Medicaid is a significant source of coverage for medical, behavioral health, and long-term services and supports for children with special health care needs, including home and community-based services (HCBS) that they need to live…

  • In Focus Groups, Direct Care Workers and Unpaid Caregivers Describe Low-Wage, Physically-Challenging Work That is Often Mentally Overwhelming and Marked By Uncertainty

    News Release

    In recent focus group interviews, 32 paid direct care workers and unpaid caregivers who assist seniors and people with disabilities with self-care and household activities describe daily work defined by low pay, physical demands and mental stress that has been made worse by the pandemic. KFF conducted the four focus groups in July and August 2021 with 24 direct care workers and eight unpaid caregivers to help provide context for the ongoing debate in Congress…

  • State Options to Expand Medicaid HCBS: Examples & Evaluations of Section 1115 Waivers

    Issue Brief

    States are currently developing plans to access an increased federal matching rate (“FMAP”) for Medicaid HCBS spending established in the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021. In the future, states may also be able to access increased HCBS funds proposed in the Biden Administration’s American Jobs Plan and the Better Care Better Jobs Act recently introduced in Congress. This brief highlights examples of Medicaid HCBS policy changes authorized through Section 1115 demonstration waivers in…

  • State Medicaid Home & Community-Based Services (HCBS) Programs Respond to COVID-19: Early Findings from a 50-State Survey

    Issue Brief

    This issue brief presents early findings from the most recent KFF survey of Medicaid HCBS programs in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. It focuses on state policies adopted in response to challenges posed by the pandemic, the pandemic’s impact on Medicaid HCBS enrollees and providers, and states’ initial plans for the new American Rescue Plan Act 10 percentage point temporary increase in federal Medicaid matching funds for HCBS available from April 2021…