Medicaid

new and noteworthy

5 Facts: Medicaid Fraud, Waste, Abuse and Improper Payments

Program integrity efforts work to prevent and detect fraud, waste, and abuse; increase program transparency and accountability; and recover improper payments. This brief explains what we know about these issues and efforts to address program integrity.

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 and work

Tracking Medicaid Work Requirements:
Data 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.

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  • Medicaid’s Role in Colorado

    Fact Sheet

    This fact sheet provides data on Medicaid's role in Colorado. It describes how ending the enhanced match for Medicaid expansion and implementing a per capita cap or block grant would affect Colorado.

  • Medicaid’s Role in Nevada

    Fact Sheet

    This fact sheet provides data on Medicaid's role in Nevada. It describes how ending the enhanced match for Medicaid expansion and implementing a per capita cap or block grant would affect Nevada.

  • Medicaid’s Role in Louisiana

    Fact Sheet

    This fact sheet provides data on Medicaid's role in Louisiana. It describes how ending the enhanced match for Medicaid expansion and implementing a per capita cap or block grant would affect Louisiana.

  • Senate Health Bill Proposes Big Changes to Medicaid Beyond Repealing and Replacing the ACA

    News Release

    The Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA) under consideration in Congress includes provisions that would fundamentally change Medicaid by phasing out extra federal funding for states’ Medicaid expansions and for the first time limiting federal spending on Medicaid through a per enrollee cap on financing or a block grant for certain adults.

  • Medicaid Changes in Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA) Go Beyond ACA Repeal and Replace

    Issue Brief

    Both the Senate's Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017 (BCRA) and the House's American Health Care Act (AHCA) go beyond repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to make fundamental changes to Medicaid by setting a limit on federal funding through a per capita cap or block grant. The BCRA also includes additional changes that would further reduce federal spending for states with high per enrollee spending, limit state financing mechanisms, allow states to impose work requirements, and make other eligibility changes. Across the board, these changes would have significant implications for the 74 million people covered by the Medicaid program and for states that jointly finance and administer the program. This brief explains the five most significant Medicaid changes in the BCRA as well as additional Medicaid changes that could have major implications for states, providers, and beneficiaries.

  • State-by-State Estimates of Reductions in Federal Medicaid Funding Under Repeal of the ACA Medicaid Expansion

    Issue Brief

    Congressional debate around the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has recently included a proposal to repeal the ACA, including the provision allowing states to extend Medicaid to childless adults up to 138% FPL and providing enhanced federal funds for the Medicaid expansion. This brief provides estimates of changes in federal Medicaid funds and Medicaid coverage for adults covered through the ACA expansion if the expansion is eliminated starting in 2020. A repeal of the Medicaid expansion would have significant coverage and financing implications for the 31 states and the District of Columbia that have implemented the expansion.

  • The Health Care Views and Experiences of Rural Americans: Findings from the Kaiser Family Foundation/Washington Post Survey of Rural America

    Report

    In partnership with The Washington Post, the Kaiser Family Foundation conducted the Survey of Rural America to gauge the views and experiences of people living in small towns and rural areas across the United States, and how they are similar or different from those in urban and suburban settings. This brief explores where health care fits in rural residents' political views, including attitudes toward Republican plans to repeal and replace the ACA as well as views of Medicaid. It also examines how rural Americans' health care experiences compare with their urban and suburban counterparts.