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Spending on Medicaid State Directed Payments Before New Limits Take Effect

Forty states and DC currently receive $93 billion in annual federal Medicaid spending through state directed payments (SDPs) and may be at risk due to forthcoming limits on these payments, according to new KFF estimates. Annual federal spending on SDPs is highest in California (an estimated $10.6 billion)—followed by Texas ($6.3 billion), North Carolina ($5.2 billion), and Illinois ($5.1 billion).

Forthcoming Policy Changes to Medicaid State Directed Payments

Changes to Medicaid State Directed Payments

The 2025 reconciliation law cut federal Medicaid spending by an estimated $911 billion from 2025 through 2034, some of which stems from new restrictions on Medicaid state directed payments (SDPs) for hospital and other health care services. This issue brief describes SDPs and forthcoming policy changes stemming from the 2025 law and the proposed regulation to implement those requirements and make other changes.

Medicaid Work RequiremEnts

Tracking the 2025 Reconciliation Law’s 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 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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  • Medicaid Expansion Spending and Enrollment in Context: An Early Look at CMS Claims Data for 2014

    Issue Brief

    This issue brief analyzes spending and enrollment data made available by CMS through the MBES. It breaks out spending and enrollment for the new adult group (Group VIII) that gained coverage in states that adopted the ACA Medicaid expansion. It looks at spending and enrollment for the new adult group in calendar year 2014, putting such data in the context of overall Medicaid spending and enrollment and examines trends across expansion states.

  • Briefing: Medicaid and CHIP Eligibility and Enrollment in 2016, and a Look Ahead: Findings from a 50-State Survey

    Event Date:
    Event

    At 9:30 a.m. ET on Thursday, January 21, the Kaiser Family Foundation hosted a public briefing to present findings from our 14th annual 50-state survey of Medicaid and CHIP eligibility, enrollment, renewal, and cost-sharing policies. The survey, conducted by the Foundation’s Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured (KCMU) and Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families, provides new data on states’ Medicaid eligibility and enrollment policies, which have undergone significant change in the two…

  • States with Section 1115 ACA Expansion Waivers, December 2015

    Feature

    This slide shows the current status of state decisions to use Section 1115 waivers to expand Medicaid. A total of 31 states including DC have adopted the ACA Medicaid expansion, including 6 states with ACA 1115 ACA expansion waivers. AZ has a pending waiver application that seeks changes to its expansion. MT and NH’s waivers will take effect on 1/1/16. PA originally expanded through a waiver but subsequently transitioned to a state plan amendment. TN…

  • Medicaid and Long-Term Services and Supports: A Primer

    Report

    This primer provides an overview of the delivery and financing of institutional and community-based long-term services and supports in the United States, highlighting Medicaid's key role in providing care, quality measurement and evaluation, and recent national reform efforts.

  • Survey of Kentucky Residents on State Health Policy

    Poll Finding

    This survey of Kentucky residents gauges their views on health care policy in the state, including their preferences for the future of the Medicaid expansion and the state-based health insurance marketplace, Kynect. Kentucky has received national attention as the only Southern state to fully embrace the Affordable Care Act, though the state elected a new governor in November 2015 who campaigned on rolling back the Medicaid expansion and ending Kynect.

  • Half of Kentucky Residents Hold Unfavorable Views of the Affordable Care Act, But Seven in Ten, Including Most Republicans, Don’t Want to Scale Back Medicaid Expansion to Cover Fewer People

    News Release

    Half of Residents Want to Keep the State's Insurance Marketplace Kynect, While a Quarter Favor Switching to Federal Healthcare.Gov Marketplace Instead Many Believe Coverage Expansions Have a Negative Impact on the State’s Budget A Kaiser Family Foundation poll of Kentucky residents finds that after much discussion of the issue in the state, health care is the top issue residents want state lawmakers to address, and a strong majority opposes scaling back the state's Medicaid expansion…

  • Health Center Patient Trends, Enrollment Activities, and Service Capacity: Recent Experience in Medicaid Expansion and Non-Expansion States

    Issue Brief

    In thousands of medically underserved communities across the U.S., community health centers enroll low-income people in health coverage and provide care to millions of patients. Against the backdrop of significant health center expansion over several years and a full year of expanded health coverage under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), this brief examines change between 2013 and 2014 in the volume and health coverage profile of health center patients, and health center enrollment activities and…

  • A Guide to Understanding Medicaid Expansion Waivers as States Debate What to Do Under the ACA

    News Release

    With the recent governors’ elections in Kentucky and Louisiana refocusing attention on state Medicaid expansion decisions, a newly updated issue brief from the Kaiser Family Foundation provides an overview of the waivers obtained by six states – Arkansas, Iowa, Michigan, Indiana, New Hampshire and Montana -- that are pursuing alternative Medicaid expansions under the Affordable Care Act.