Medicaid

new and noteworthy

Medicaid work requirements

Medicaid and the Road Ahead: Spending Cuts, Work Requirements and What’s Next for States, Providers and Families

Event Date:

Passed last year, President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act made significant changes to Medicaid—the primary insurance provider for health and long-term care for people with low incomes. These changes are expected to lead to coverage loss for many current enrollees and will reduce funding for Medicaid, placing new financial pressures on states and health care providers. On July 23, KFF and States Newsroom hosted an event focused on the impacts of work requirements and other federal policy changes on states, health care systems, and people.

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.

Dual Eligibles

Stay informed.

Stay informed.

Filter

1,681 - 1,690 of 2,737 Results

  • Analysis Finds Specialty Drugs Rank High Among Medicaid’s Most Costly Outpatient Drugs

    News Release

    Costly specialty drugs, such as those used to treat Hepatitis C and HIV, are among the most costly medications in state Medicaid programs, chiefly because of their high prices for a course of treatment, according to a new Kaiser Family Foundation analysis of Medicaid’s most costly outpatient drugs. Abilify, an antiphsychotic used in the treatment of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, was the most costly drug in state Medicaid programs overall in the new analysis, which…

  • A Final Look: California’s Previously Uninsured after the ACA’s Third Open Enrollment Period

    Report

    The Kaiser Family Foundation California Longitudinal Panel Survey is a series of surveys that, over time, tracked the experiences and views of a representative, randomly selected sample of Californians who were uninsured prior to the major coverage expansions under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The initial baseline survey was conducted with a representative sample of 2,001 nonelderly uninsured Californian adults in summer 2013, prior to the ACA’s initial open enrollment period. After each enrollment period…

  • How the Elections Could Put the Brakes on Anti-ACA Plans

    From Drew Altman

    In this Axios column, Drew Altman examines the role of health care in Virginia's elections and the referendum on Medicaid expansion in Maine. His assessment: the elections and the referendum will have a bigger impact on upcoming policy debates about cutting Medicaid to pay for tax cuts, and state interest in Medicaid expansion, than on upcoming elections. 

  • Early Implementation Experience of Medicaid Expansion Waivers in Michigan and Indiana Can Help Inform Future Medicaid Waivers

    News Release

    Michigan and Indiana, led by Republican governors, each obtained a waiver from the Obama Administration to expand Medicaid in ways that differ from the terms of the Affordable Care Act. Notably, both states’ expansions include provisions related to charging enrollees premiums, requiring them to contribute to health accounts and providing incentives to participate in healthy behavior programs, though the details and implementation vary considerably between the two states. A new analysis from the Kaiser Family…

  • Medicaid Managed Care and the Provision of Family Planning Services

    Report

    Three quarters of reproductive age women on Medicaid are enrolled in managed care arrangements. This analysis explores the experiences and perspectives of leaders of Medicaid Managed Care Organizations (MCOs) in structuring their networks and services to provide family planning and reproductive health services to women. It finds that MCOs rely heavily on safety net clinics including Community Health Centers and Family Planning Clinics such as Planned Parenthood to provide in-network family planning services to their…

  • The Role of Medicaid in Rural America

    Issue Brief

    This brief describes Medicaid’s role for 52 million nonelderly children and adults living in the most rural areas in the United States and discusses how expansions or reductions in Medicaid could affect rural areas.

  • Medicaid Fills Coverage Gaps in Rural Areas, Where Residents Are More Likely Than in Urban Areas to Be Low Income, Have a Disability, Be Unemployed or Lack Private Health Insurance

    News Release

    A new brief from the Kaiser Family Foundation examines the role of Medicaid in rural America. The 52 million children and nonelderly adults living in the most rural areas of the U.S. are more likely to be low income, more likely to have a disability and less likely to be employed or to have private insurance coverage compared to residents of urban and other areas.  Individuals in rural areas also face significant barriers to accessing care,…

  • Medicaid Waiver Requests in Wisconsin and Maine Seek to Impose Work Requirements and Time Limits for Beneficiaries

    News Release

    A new issue brief from the Kaiser Family Foundation highlights proposed changes to Medicaid programs in Wisconsin and Maine that include work requirements and time limits in both states, as well as drug screenings for some beneficiaries in Wisconsin. The waiver authority sought by both states would impose welfare-like restrictions and include a number of provisions that have never been approved for traditional, non-Medicaid expansion populations, such as locking beneficiaries out of coverage for failure…

  • How Might Older Nonelderly Medicaid Adults with Disabilities Be Affected By Work Requirements in Section 1115 Waivers?

    Issue Brief

    Most of the states with approved or pending Section 1115 waivers that condition Medicaid eligibility on work would apply those requirements to all or most nonelderly adults (ages 19-64) who are not receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI) cash assistance, including older nonelderly adults (ages 50-64). Older nonelderly adults may be limited in their ability to satisfy a work requirement due to barriers resulting from age and/or disability. Previous analysis shows that many nonelderly Medicaid adults…