Medicaid

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Medicaid/CHIP Monthly Enrollment Tracker

Medicaid enrollment declined by 5 million people (6%) from May 2025 through May 2026. Child enrollment in Medicaid and CHIP declined in 49 states and DC, and adult enrollment dropped in all but five states (IA, MO, NC, OK, SD). KFF's tracker presents the most recent Medicaid enrollment data by month and state.

Medicaid work requirements

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

Event Date:

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.

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 describes states’ current provider taxes and explores how rules governing provider taxes are changing.

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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  • KFF Examines Challenges in Navigating Coverage for Opill, the First Over-the-Counter Daily Oral Contraceptive Pill, Coming to Market Next Year 

    News Release

    As Opill—the first over-the-counter daily oral contraceptive pill in the United States—is expected to be available for purchase in early 2024, new research conducted by KFF examines barriers to its accessibility for consumers and challenges in providing insurance coverage for it. Based on interviews with nearly 80 representatives from private insurance plans, state Medicaid programs, chain pharmacies, and other key groups, the report provides a deeper view into the operational challenges in expanding access to…

  • Six Months into the Medicaid Unwinding: What Do the Data Show and What Questions Remain?

    Policy Watch

    Six months into the unwinding of the Medicaid continuous enrollment provision, KFF tracking shows states are reporting outcomes for over 28 million renewals, accounting for three in ten people who were enrolled as of March 2023 when continuous enrollment ended. This policy watch examines the latest data and key questions as the unwinding continues to unfold.

  • Survey Finds Many Medicaid Enrollees Unprepared for Eligibility Renewal Process, and Some Believe They Could Struggle to Find Coverage or End Up Uninsured if They Lose Medicaid

    News Release

    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. During the COVID-19 pandemic, states suspended their Medicaid eligibility renewals in exchange for additional federal funding, ensuring continuous health coverage for enrollees. States recently have resumed eligibility renewals and as of…

  • States Received Over $117 Billion in Enhanced Federal Medicaid Funding for Pausing Disenrollments During the Pandemic; Non-Expansion States Received a Disproportionate Share 

    News Release

    A new KFF analysis finds that states received over $117 billion in enhanced federal Medicaid funding in exchange for pausing disenrollments during the first three years of the pandemic. The injection of federal money enabled states to spend less of their own funds on Medicaid even as enrollment rose by more than 23 million people nationally and total Medicaid spending increased by billions of dollars. Pandemic-era enrollment protections expired in March, and in April states…

  • What Does the Outcome of the Midterm Elections Mean for Medicaid Expansion?

    Fact Sheet

    While not typically an election issue, Medicaid — particularly the Medicaid expansion created under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) — was an important issue in the 2018 midterm elections in a number of campaigns throughout the country. This fact sheet highlights key states in which the results of the 2018 midterm elections have implications for Medicaid adoption or implementation. States examined include those that had Medicaid expansion ballot initiatives as well as states that have…

  • The New Health Care Agenda: Gridlock, Lots of Hearings

    From Drew Altman

    In an Axios column, Drew Altman analyzes what the midterm election means for the health policy agenda between now and 2020--mostly political positioning and gridlock in Congress, with most of the action affecting people in the states. 

  • Re-approval of Kentucky Medicaid Demonstration Waiver

    Issue Brief

    On January 12, 2018, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) approved a Section 1115 demonstration waiver in Kentucky, entitled “Kentucky Helping to Engage and Achieve Long Term Health” or KY HEALTH. On the same day that CMS approved Kentucky’s waiver, Governor Bevin issued an executive order directing the state to terminate the Medicaid expansion if a court decides that one or more of the waiver provisions are illegal and cannot be implemented. This…

  • The Opioid Epidemic and Medicaid’s Role in Facilitating Access to Treatment

    Issue Brief

    This brief describes nonelderly adults with opioid use disorder, including their demographic characteristics and insurance status, and compares utilization of treatment services among those with Medicaid to those with other types of coverage. It also describes Medicaid financing for opioid treatment and the ways in which Medicaid promotes access to treatment for enrollees with OUD.

  • What Are States Proposing for Work Requirements in Medicaid?

    News Release

    With the approval of Kentucky’s Medicaid expansion waiver, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has for the first time granted a state permission to make Medicaid eligibility conditional on meeting a work requirement. Nine other states have waivers pending at CMS that would impose work requirements, including Arizona, Arkansas, Kansas, Indiana, Wisconsin, Maine, New Hampshire, Mississippi and Utah. A new brief from the Kaiser Family Foundation highlights what the work requirements would be in…