Medicaid

Work Requirements

Challenges with Implementing Work Requirements

Many states are anticipating a variety of implementation challenges, including the need for complex system changes, a compressed implementation timeline, and limited staff capacity.

What is the Medicaid Hardship Exception?

The number of Medicaid expansion enrollees who ultimately qualify for the high unemployment hardship exception will depend on how the exception is implemented and how unemployment rates changes.

Tracking Implementation of the 2025 Reconciliation Law: Medicaid Work Requirements

KFF’s interactive tracks key data and policies that will affect how states implement Medicaid work requirements, which are required under the 2025 budget reconciliation law starting in January 2027. The tracker includes state-level data on Medicaid enrollment and renewal outcomes as well as current state enrollment and renewal policies.

2025-2026 Medicaid Budget Survey

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.

The Essentials
  • 5 Facts: Immigrants and Medicaid

    This brief provides five key facts on Medicaid and immigrants as context for understanding the potential impacts of policy changes under the Trump administration.
  • 5 Facts: Medicaid and Hospitals

    This brief explains the role of Medicaid for hospitals, including how much spending on hospital care comes from Medicaid, the share of births covered by the program, and how Medicaid expansion has impacted hospital finances.
  • Medicaid Financing: The Basics

    Medicaid is a major source of financing for states to provide health coverage and long-term services and supports for low-income residents. This brief examines key questions about Medicaid financing and how it works.
  • 5 Facts: Medicaid’s Share of National Health Spending

    This brief explores how Medicaid spending contributes to national health spending and how different service areas contribute to Medicaid costs.
  • 5 Facts: Medicaid and Nursing Facilities

    The substantial Medicaid savings in the reconciliation bill could have major implications for nearly 15,000 federally certified nursing facilities and the 1.2 million people living in them.

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  • Implementing the ACA: Medicaid Spending & Enrollment Growth for FY 2014 and FY 2015

    Issue Brief

    This report provides an overview of Medicaid financing and Medicaid spending and enrollment growth with a focus on state fiscal years 2014 and 2015 (FY 2014 and FY 2015.) Findings are based on interviews and data provided by state Medicaid directors as part of the 14th annual survey of Medicaid directors in all 50 states and the District of Columbia conducted by the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured (KCMU) survey with Health Management Associates (HMA). Findings examine changes in overall enrollment and spending growth and also look at expansion versus non-expansion states.

  • Summary of the 2018 CHIP Funding Extension

    Fact Sheet

    On January 22, 2018, Congress passed a six-year extension of CHIP funding as part of a broader continuing resolution to fund the federal government. Federal funding for CHIP had expired on September 30, 2017. Without additional funding available, states operated their CHIP programs using remaining funds from previous years. However, some states came close to exhausting funding, leading them to make contingency plans to reduce coverage and notify families of potential coverage reductions. In late December 2017, Congress provided some short-term funding for early 2018, but some states still expected to exhaust funds by March 2018. The six-year funding extension provides stable funding for states to continue their CHIP coverage. This fact sheet provides a summary of key provisions of the CHIP funding extension.

  • Medicaid: What to Watch in 2018 from the Administration, Congress, and the States

    Issue Brief

    Medicaid provides health insurance coverage for about one in five Americans and is the largest payer for long-term care services in the community and nursing homes. Efforts in 2017 to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and cap federal financing for Medicaid were unsuccessful but help to set the stage for 2018. As 2018 begins, there is a focus on administrative actions using Medicaid Section 1115 demonstration waivers, state actions on Medicaid expansion, and funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and other federal health care priorities. Medicaid in 2018 is also likely to continue to be part of both federal and state budget deliberations. Pressures to control the federal deficit may reignite efforts to reduce or cap federal Medicaid spending. In addition, Governors will soon release proposed budgets for state FY 2019 that will need to account for uncertainty around CHIP and Medicaid, changes in the economy and the effects of the recent tax legislation as well as funding for rising prescription drugs and initiatives to combat the opioid epidemic. This brief examines these issues.

  • Approved Changes to Medicaid in Kentucky

    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 fact sheet summarizes key provisions of Kentucky’s approved waiver.

  • 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.

  • Status of Federal Funding for CHIP and Implications for States and Families

    Fact Sheet

    This fact sheet provides an overview of the current status of federal funding for CHIP and implications for states and families. CHIP covers 8.9 million children in working families who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but cannot afford or access private coverage. Federal funding for CHIP expired on September 30, 2017. On December 21, 2017, Congress provided a short-term extension of federal funding for the program as part of its continuing resolution to keep the federal government operational through January 19, 2018. However, without longer-term federal funding, states continue to face uncertainty and may need to reduce coverage, while families may experience confusion about the status of coverage and face concerns and worries about losing their children’s coverage.

  • Voces de Puerto Rico: Reflexiones Dos Meses Después de María (Video)

    Video

    En este video, los residentes de Puerto Rico hablan sobre su vida cotidiana y puntos de vista de los esfuerzos de recuperación dos meses después del huracán María. Describen un clima de frustración, la pérdida de empleo y problemas económicas, la falta de servicios básicos como la electricidad y el efecto en la salud mental y física de la población

  • Voces de Puerto Rico: Reflexiones Dos Meses Después de María (Informe)

    Issue Brief

    Dos meses después que el huracán María tocara tierra, la Kaiser Family Foundation viajó a Puerto Rico. Este informe presenta los resultados de grupos focales y entrevistas individuales con 40 personas de 10 diferentes regiones de la isla afectadas por la tormenta.