Medicaid

new and noteworthy

Medicaid Work RequiremEnts

Key Issues for the Medical Frailty Exemption from Medicaid Work Requirements

CMS has released new guidance on Medicaid work requirements. For background on the medical frailty exemption, one of the key issues in the new rule, check out KFF's explainer. KFF is closely tracking how states are approaching implementation of Medicaid work requirements and navigating related challenges.

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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  • Long-Term Care:  Understanding Medicaid’s Role for the Elderly and Disabled

    Issue Brief

    Long-Term Care: Understanding Medicaid’s Role for the Elderly and Disabled This updated report provides a review of how Medicaid works for people with long-term care needs and describes the fiscal challenges that states currently face and that Medicaid may face in the future as the population ages. Report (.pdf) Executive Summary (.pdf)

  • New Reports Explain Medicaid’s Role in Long-Term Care and Track Trends

    Issue Brief

    With short and long-term policy changes to the Medicaid program being discussed, its role in providing long-term care is receiving closer examination. Medicaid is the single largest source of financing for long-term care, accounting for nearly half of all the nation’s spending for long-term care services, and demographic trends are likely to place additional pressure on Medicaid. New attention is being focused on who relies on Medicaid for help with nursing home bills and how…

  • Observations on the Initial Implementation of the Medicare Prescription Drug Program:  Perspectives of State Medicaid Directors Through a Focus Group Discussion

    Report

    Observations on the Initial Implementation of the Medicare Prescription Drug Program: Perspectives of State Medicaid Directors Through a Focus Group Discussion Medicaid directors express the need to continue to focus on the interaction between Medicaid and the Medicare prescription drug benefit and to address the key system and coordination issues that remain, particularly with the potential disruptions that could occur in January 2007 when new Medicare drug plan contracts and recalculated benchmarks for the low-income…

  • Dual Enrollees: Medicaid’s Role for Low-Income Medicare Beneficiaries

    Fact Sheet

    Dual Enrollees: Medicaid's Role for Low-Income Medicare Beneficiaries This fact sheet describes the low-income elderly population that is eligible for both Medicaid and Medicare, why they need Medicaid, what services they receive from Medicaid, and the current policy challenges related to this population. Fact Sheet (.pdf)

  • Learning From History: Deinstitutionalization of People with Mental Illness As Precursor to Long-Term Care Reform

    Report

    This report examines what policy lessons can be learned from the deinstitutionalization of people with mental illnesses and applied to potential long-term care reform for the elderly or those with significant disabilities. The study assesses the reforms that took place under deinstitutionalization, their impact and what mistakes were made. It also discusses the take-away lessons for long-term care policy, with a focus on planning, financing, living situations and the role of families, workplace issues, and…

  • New Survey Indicates Medicaid Enrollment Declines For First Time In Nearly A Decade

    Event Date:
    Event

    The annual 50-state survey of state officials on Medicaid and state budget actions reports enrollment in Medicaid declined for the first time in nearly a decade. The 0.5 percent enrollment decline in fiscal year 2007 was driven primarily by two factors. States reported that the new citizenship documentation requirements were causing significant delays in processing applications, affecting mostly individuals already eligible for the program. State officials also cited the good economy and lower unemployment for…

  • Medicaid and Budget Reconciliation:  Implications of the Conference Report

    Issue Brief

    Medicaid and Budget Reconciliation: Implications of the Conference Report This issue brief provides an overview of the federal budget context and then highlights key Medicaid savings proposals in the budget reconciliation conference bill and discusses the implications of the proposed changes. Issue Brief (.pdf)

  • Resources on Medicaid Policy Changes in the Federal Budget Reconciliation Bill

    Issue Brief

    The Foundation's Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured has collected resources related to the Medicaid policy changes in the budget reconciliation law, Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. Deficit Reduction Act of 2005: Implications for Medicaid West Virginia Medicaid State Plan Amendment: Key Program Changes and Questions KYHealth Choices Medicaid Reform: Key Program Changes and Questions Reports Explore Long-Term Care Issues Included in the Deficit Reduction Act The Nuts and Bolts of Making Medicaid Policy…

  • New Developments in Medicaid Coverage: Who Bears Financial Risk and Responsibility?

    Issue Brief

    A few recent state Medicaid initiatives have emerged that take the program into new directions. States have expressed a number of objectives in developing these approaches, including offering beneficiaries greater choice, promoting personal responsibility and healthier behaviors among enrollees, and, in some cases, relying more heavily on the private marketplace. In addition, states have sought to shape their initiatives in ways that could help them better predict and limit their exposure to costs. This brief…