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.

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  • Uncompensated Hospital Care Fell by $6 Billion Nationally in 2014, Primarily in Medicaid Expansion States; However Many Hospitals Worry About Future Changes in Medicaid Supplemental Payments

    News Release

    The Affordable Care Act’s coverage expansions have benefited hospitals financially, helping to produce an overall decline nationwide in uncompensated care from $34.9 billion to $28.9 billion in 2014, according to a new analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation. Nearly all of the decline occurred in Medicaid expansion states, where uncompensated care costs were $10.8 billion in 2014 – down $5.7 billion, or 35 percent, from 2013, the year before ACA coverage expansions took full effect. The…

  • 8 Preguntas & Respuestas sobre Puerto Rico

    Fact Sheet

    La crisis de $73 mil millones de Puerto Rico ha sido tema de los medios de comunicación nacionales, y de debate en el Congreso en los últimos meses. Además, varios de los principales medios de prensa han reportado sobre una inminente crisis de la atención de salud relacionada con cuestiones demográficas y del financiamiento del cuidado de salud, y exacerbada por la actual situación económica y el aumento de casos de trasmisión del virus del…

  • A Comprehensive Review of Research Finds That the ACA Medicaid Expansion Has Reduced the Uninsured Rate and Increased Access to Care in Expansion States

    News Release

    Multiple studies find that the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion has increased coverage, with enrollment exceeding expectations in some states, while producing budget savings for states and reductions in uncompensated care costs for hospitals, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation review of 61 studies and policy reports. The literature review provides a useful reference on the effects of the ACA Medicaid expansion at a time when the future of the expansion – and the ACA more…

  • Overview of Medicaid Per Capita Cap Proposals

    Issue Brief

    The House Republican Plan (“A Better Way”) released on June 22, 2016, includes a proposal to convert federal Medicaid financing from an open-ended entitlement to a per capita allotment or a block grant (based on a state choice). This proposal is part of a larger package designed to replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and reduce federal spending for health care. Often tied to deficit reduction, proposals to convert Medicaid’s financing structure to a per…

  • What’s At Stake in the Future of the Kentucky Medicaid Expansion?

    Fact Sheet

    On June 22, 2016, Governor Bevin released his proposed Section 1115 demonstration waiver proposal called Kentucky HEALTH (Helping to Engage and Achieve Long Term Health) as an alternative to the current Medicaid expansion. This brief examines what has happened to coverage, access and utilization and the economic impact of the Medicaid expansion in Kentucky and the implications for changes going forward.

  • Proposed Changes to Medicaid Expansion in Kentucky

    Fact Sheet

    On June 22, 2016, Governor Bevin released his proposed Section 1115 demonstration waiver application called Kentucky HEALTH (Helping to Engage and Achieve Long Term Health) as an alternative to the current Medicaid expansion which is being implemented through a state plan amendment according to the terms in the ACA. On July 3, 2017, Kentucky submitted an amendment, proposing several changes, to its pending waiver application to the new Administration. This fact sheet summarizes the proposed…

  • Economic and Fiscal Trends in Expansion and Non-Expansion States: What We Know Leading Up to 2014

    Issue Brief

    This brief was prepared with the Rockefeller Institute of Government, the public policy research arm of the State University of New York. It is designed to provide some insight into the underlying economic and fiscal conditions in expansion and non-expansion states leading up to 2014 by looking at the typical (i.e. median) state for each group. This analysis will provide a framework against which to measure the impact of expansion decisions going forward. The sections…

  • Long-Term Care in the United States: A Timeline

    Other Post

    Long-term care (LTC) in the United States has evolved over the course of the last century to better serve the needs of seniors and person with disabilities. This long-term care timeline outlines the major milestones in LTC from the nursing home era, which created an institutional bias in LTC, to the era of home and community based services (HCBS) and integration, and into the era of health reform and beyond.

  • Medicaid Income Eligibility Levels for Parents

    Feature

    medicaid-income-eligibility-levels-for-parents-jan-2017 Download Source Based on  results from a national survey conducted by the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured and the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families, 2017.