Home Medicaid Topics

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.

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

1,451 - 1,460 of 2,679 Results

  • Integrating Physical and Behavioral Health Care: Promising Medicaid Models

    Issue Brief

    Although many people require treatment for both physical and behavioral health conditions, our physical and behavioral health systems typically operate independently, without coordination. Medicaid has a significant stake in addressing this issue because physical and behavioral health comorbidity rates among beneficiaries are high. This brief examines five promising approaches currently underway in Medicaid to better integrate physical and behavioral health care.

  • Medicaid Enrollment Under the Affordable Care Act: Understanding the Numbers

    Issue Brief

    This issue brief walks through data recently released from Health and Human Services (HHS) and what it can and cannot tell us about the number of people that have applied for Medicaid since open enrollment for health insurance marketplaces began, how many have enrolled, and what the role of the ACA is in recent Medicaid coverage gains.

  • CHIP Enrollment: June 2013 Data Snapshot

    Issue Brief

    This issue brief provides state level CHIP enrollment data, adding the June 2013 period. In June 2013, over 5.7 million children were enrolled in the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP.) Enrollment in June 2013 increased by 190,453 or by 3.4 percent, compared to one year earlier. Since 2009, annual rates of growth have remained fairly steady, ranging between 3.2 percent and 3.8 percent. In contrast, during the height of the Great Recession, enrollment increased annually by 7.8 to 10 percent. Overall, CHIP enrollment continued to increase, but growth slow to the lowest rates since the start of the Recession as the economic conditions continued to improve. CHIP programs, along with state Medicaid programs continue to play a critical role in assuring health coverage for uninsured children.

  • Annual Change in Medicaid Enrollment in 50 States and DC, June 2000 to June 2011

    Medicaid Enrollment: June 2013 Data Snapshot

    Issue Brief

    This Data Snapshot provides 50-state data on Medicaid monthly enrollment trends, adding June 2013 data. Overall, Medicaid enrollment growth continued to slow to the lowest rate since the start of the Great Recession as the economic conditions continued to slowly improve. While enrollment growth rates have been trending downward as economic conditions continue to slowly improve, enrollment growth is expected to increase significantly as states implement the ACA. Regardless of whether states decide to implement the Medicaid expansion or not, enrollment is anticipated to grow on average across all states due to new streamlined eligibility and enrollment processes as well as outreach for new coverage. This report provides baseline data for understanding the impact of the ACA eligibility and enrollment policies on enrollment growth across states.

  • Key Findings from the Field: Early Experience with ACA Enrollment in Maryland and Nevada

    Issue Brief

    To learn more about the early ACA enrollment experience in two states, the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured and PerryUndem Research and Communication conducted focus groups in Baltimore, Maryland and Reno, Nevada in November 2013 with low- and moderate-income individuals who recently applied for health insurance and consumer assisters trained to help individuals enroll. This study builds on previous work that examined preparations for open enrollment in several states, including Maryland and Nevada, which are both moving forward with the ACA’s Medicaid expansion to low-income adults and have established their own State-based Marketplace (SBM). The focus group discussions included adults who had successfully applied as well as consumer assisters.This brief provides key findings about the early ACA enrollment experience in Baltimore, Maryland and Reno, Nevada based on focus group discussions with these recent applicants and enrollment assisters.

  • An Introduction to Medicaid and CHIP Eligibility and Enrollment Performance Measures

    Issue Brief

    The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently established 12 new Medicaid and CHIP eligibility and enrollment performance indicators for states to report beginning in October 2013. These indicators provide insight into the performance of new eligibility and enrollment policies established under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). In December 2013, CMS released initial reports for a subset of the indicators. This brief provides an overview of the new performance indicators; the initial data; and the opportunities and challenges associated with reporting, analyzing, and interpreting the data.

  • A Profile of Community Health Center Patients: Implications for Policy

    Issue Brief

    Community health centers are a key source of primary care in underserved areas. Their role will grow as coverage expands under the ACA. To sharpen understanding of the health center patient population, this brief compares them to the low-income population overall, using the Health Center Patient Survey and National Health Interview Survey. The pre-ACA profile of health center patients that emerges sets the stage for measuring change and highlights important implications of states’ Medicaid expansion decisions.

  • Healthy Indiana Plan and the Affordable Care Act

    Fact Sheet

    This fact sheet provides an overview of the Healthy Indiana Plan, Indiana's 1115 waiver demonstration project, and how it relates to the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion.