Medicaid

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Medicaid/CHIP Monthly Enrollment Tracker

Medicaid enrollment declined by 5 million people (6%) from May 2025 through May 2026. Child enrollment in Medicaid and CHIP declined in 49 states and DC, and adult enrollment dropped in all but five states (IA, MO, NC, OK, SD). KFF's tracker presents the most recent Medicaid enrollment data by month and state.

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 describes states’ current provider taxes and explores how rules governing provider taxes are changing.

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

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  • Health Reform: Lessons From Massachusetts

    Event Date:
    Event

    As Congress debates comprehensive national health reform, the Kaiser Family Foundation has two reports and an updated fact sheet that examine state-level health reform in Massachusetts and the lessons it offers for policymakers in Washington. Consumers’ Experience in Massachusetts: Lessons For National Health Reform and In Pursuit of Affordable Health Care: On the Ground Lessons from Families in Massachusetts, examine the impact of health reform on the lives of ordinary people in the state, including…

  • Why Express Lane Eligibility Makes Sense for States and Low-Income Families

    Issue Brief

    Express Lane Eligibility (ELE) is a new tool available to states to streamline enrollment and renewal of children in Medicaid and CHIP. It allows state Medicaid and CHIP agencies to utilize data and eligibility findings from other public need-based programs, such as Head Start or Food Stamps, and/or tax return data to identify, enroll and recertify children rather than requiring them to re-analyze and determine eligibility under their own rules. This issue brief, one in…

  • Medicaid’s Continuing Crunch In a Recession: A Mid-Year Update for State FY 2010 and Preview for FY 2011

    Report

    This report finds that 44 states and the District of Columbia are experiencing higher than expected program enrollment and spending for fiscal year 2010. At least 29 states say they are considering additional mid-year cuts in provider rates and program benefits. The recession and the scheduled end on Dec. 31, 2010 of enhanced federal matching money for Medicaid that was provided through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 will have a significant impact…

  • From Crunch to Crisis: State Budgets, Medicaid and the Economy

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    Event

    Medicaid programs are feeling the strain as enrollment grows while state revenues come in lower than projected. How are Medicaid directors coping? How is the recession affecting low-income individuals and families? This briefing, cosponsored by the Alliance for Health Reform and the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, addressed these and related questions. For more information, please visit the Alliance's event page. Full Video   Speakers for this session: The panel is co-moderated by…

  • Medicaid and CHIP Health Reform Implementation Timeline

    Issue Brief

    This timeline highlights the implementation dates for provisions in the new health reform law that are related to Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program. While major expansions of Medicaid are set to occur in 2014, many other key provisions in the health reform law become effective between 2010 and 2014. Timeline (.pdf)

  • Uninsured and Untreated: A Look at Uninsured Adults Who Received No Medical Care for Two Years

    Issue Brief

    With Medicaid set to expand under health reform, the program will begin to reach individuals who have previously had little interaction with the health care system. The data in this brief profile uninsured adults with incomes at or below 133 percent of the poverty level who, because of health reform, will be eligible for Medicaid in 2014 based on income. It focuses on those who received no medical care over a two-year period to help…

  • To Hospitalize or Not to Hospitalize? Medical Care for Long-Term Care Facility Residents

    Report

    To Hospitalize or Not to Hospitalize? Medical Care for Long-Term Care Facility Residents This report explores factors that appear to drive relatively high rates of hospitalizations, based on interviews with doctors, nursing home staff and families in four cities. Key factors include liability concerns, limited onsite staff capabilities, difficulty reaching residents' physicians for care instructions on nights and weekends, better and more timely access to diagnostic tests in hospitals, and patient preferences. Physicians with patients…

  • Explaining Douglas v. Independent Living Center: Questions About the Upcoming United States Supreme Court Case Regarding Medicaid Beneficiaries’ and Providers’ Ability to Enforce the Medicaid Act

    Issue Brief

    On October 3, 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral argument in a group of three cases, Douglas v. Independent Living Center of Southern California, Douglas v. California Pharmacists Association, and Douglas v. Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. All three cases raise the same issue: whether Medicaid beneficiaries and providers can challenge a state law in federal court on the basis that it violates the federal Medicaid Act and therefore is “preempted” by…

  • Inside Deficit Reduction: What It Means For Medicaid

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    Event

    This briefing, co-sponsored by the Alliance for Health Reform, the Kaiser Family Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and The SCAN Foundation, featured panelists discussing which deficit-reduction proposals affecting Medicaid might receive serious consideration by the congressional "super committee," as well as what kind of impact such changes would have on Medicaid enrollees, providers and state Medicaid programs. For more information, please visit the Alliance's event page. Full Video   Speakers for this session: The…

  • An Update on CMS’s Capitated Financial Alignment Demonstration Model For Medicare-Medicaid Enrollees

    Issue Brief

    Beginning in January, 2013, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will implement a three year multi-state demonstration to test new service delivery and payment models for people dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid. These demonstrations will enroll full dual eligibles in managed fee-for-service or capitated managed care plans that seek to integrate benefits and align financial incentives between the two programs. On January 25, 2012, CMS issued a memorandum providing additional guidance for…