Home Medicaid Topics

Medicaid

new and noteworthy

Medicaid: What to Watch in 2026

Medicaid: What to Watch in 2026

In this brief, KFF explores how state fiscal pressures are likely to converge with the implementation of the 2025 reconciliation law to affect Medicaid coverage, financing, and access to care over the next year, especially leading up to the midterm elections.

Medicaid Watch

Featuring policy research, polling and news about how Medicaid is changing, and the impact of those changes due to the tax and spending cuts law

Medicaid Work Requirements

Tracking Medicaid Work Requirements: u003cbru003eData and Policies

To implement Medicaid work requirements, states will need to make important policy and operational decisions, implement needed system upgrades or changes, develop new outreach and education strategies, and hire and train staff, all within a relatively short timeframe. The information tracked here can serve as a resource to understand Medicaid work requirements and state options, gauge readiness, and track implementation of the requirements.

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 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.

5 Facts: 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 in 2025

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.

5 Facts: 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.

2025 Medicaid Home Care survey

Payment Rates Ahead of 2025 Reconciliation Law

This issue brief describes Medicaid payment rates for home care and other workforce supports that are in place in 2025, before the majority of the 2025 reconciliation law provisions start taking effect.

Home Care Support for Family Caregivers in 2025
number of responding states, including DC, that allow payments for family caregivers by type of home care program and type of caregiver.

This issue brief describes the availability of self-directed services and supports for family caregivers in Medicaid home care in 2025, before most provisions in the reconciliation law take effect.

States’ Management of Home Care Spending

This issue brief describes the mechanisms states are currently using to limit Medicaid spending on home care and their plans for adopting new mechanisms in state fiscal year (FY) 2026.

Waiting Lists for Medicaid Home Care, 2016 to 2025
A Look at Waiting Lists for Medicaid Home- and Community-Based Services from 2016 to 2025

This data note provides new information about waiting lists in Medicaid home care before many of the provisions in the 2025 reconciliation law go into effect.

Eligibility and coverage

  • Eligibility, Enrollment, and Renewal Policies

    KFF's survey findings capture state actions that seek to improve the accuracy and efficiency of Medicaid and CHIP enrollment and renewal processes, as of January 2025.

  • Seniors and People with Disabilities

    More than 1 in 3 people with disabilities (15 million) have Medicaid (35%). In comparison, only 19% of people without disabilities have Medicaid.

  • Children with Special Needs

    Amid debates about proposed cuts to federal Medicaid spending, this brief analyzes key characteristics of children with special health care needs and explores how Medicaid provides them with coverage.

  • People With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

    Among the estimated 8 million people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD), over three million have Medicaid coverage.

  • Adults with Chronic Conditions

    Among working age adults enrolled in Medicaid, approximately three quarters have one or more chronic conditions, and nearly one-third have three or more.

Latest News

More KFF Health News

Subscribe to KFF Emails

Choose which emails are best for you.
Sign up here

View the Latest: Medicaid

Filter

List Grid

1,901 - 1,910 of 2,689 Results

  • How Does Medicaid Work and What’s at Stake Under a Block Grant or Per Capita Cap?: A Video Slideshow

    News Release

    A new video slideshow from the Kaiser Family Foundation explains how Medicaid works now and what is at stake as policymakers in Washington consider converting program financing to a block grant or per capita cap. The 3-minute video describes how Medicaid is financed under current law, whom it covers and how spending is distributed across various groups of enrollees, including children, adults, seniors, and people with disabilities. It shows, for instance, that although seniors and…

  • Pop Quiz: Assessing Americans’ Familiarity with the Health Care Law

    Perspective

    Based on the December Kaiser Health Tracking Poll, the latest KFF data note explores Americans’ awareness of what the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will do. As the 112th Congress prepared to take office and the discussion of repeal was on the rise, we 'quizzed' Americans on whether they thought a series of ten provisions were included in the new law, ranging from five items that are part of the law (i.e., Medicaid expansion, changes in…

  • Edward Henry

    Other Post

    Edward Henry, age 64, lives independently now, following three years in nursing homes after he lost both legs to an infection. Edward’s goal was always to live again on his own, and he was able to make this transition through Georgia Medicaid’s “Money Follows the Person” (MFP) program. Under MFP, the federal government provides states with enhanced Medicaid matching funds to help individuals receiving care in institutions move back to the community. MFP helped Edward…

  • Carmen, Crystal, and Nelly Rosado

    Other Post

    When Carmen Rosado got divorced a few years ago, she and her two teen daughters, Crystal and Nelly, lost their private health insurance. Carmen took a new job working nights, but it offered no health coverage and, without Medicaid, the family would have been uninsured. With Medicaid, Crystal and Nelly have stayed up-to-date on their well-child visits and immunizations, and the eyeglasses they need and the doctor visits they occasionally make when they get sick…

  • Claire Smith

    Other Post

    Claire Smith, now 5 years old, was born with a rare genetic syndrome whose symptoms include multiple, severe physical, developmental, and intellectual disabilities. Claire’s family has private health insurance, but because of its bureaucratic barriers, her parents have had to struggle to obtain the care Claire needs. About a year ago, Claire’s parents learned that Claire could qualify for D.C. Medicaid’s “Katie Beckett” program. This program enables families like the Smiths, whose child with disabilities…

  • Michelle Foster

    Other Post

    Michelle Foster and her four-month-old baby, Anthwonnia, have both benefited from Medicaid. With Medicaid, Michelle received all her prenatal care on time, and, when she developed gestational diabetes, she was able to get the specialist care that she needed as well. Because Medicaid paid for Anthwonnia

  • The News Media and “Entitlement Reform”

    From Drew Altman

    In the coming debate about the deficit, policymakers will struggle to craft a package of spending reductions and new revenues that both Democrats and Republicans can agree on, totaling as much as four trillion dollars over ten years.  Medicare, Medicaid and potentially the Affordable Care Act will have their turn on the operating table as policymakers look for savings.  It is unclear what reductions in Medicare and Medicaid spending policymakers will be able to agree…

  • Fewer Want To Expand Medicaid After Hearing Their State Could Spend More

    Feature

    Fewer Want To Expand Medicaid After Hearing Their State Could Spend More Download Source Kaiser Family Foundation/Robert Wood Johnson Foundation/Harvard School of Public Health, The Public’s Health Care Agenda for the 113th Congress (conducted January 3-9, 2013)