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.

Subscribe to KFF Emails

Choose which emails are best for you.
Sign up here

Filter

2,411 - 2,420 of 2,679 Results

  • An Overview of Medicaid Incentives for the Prevention of Chronic Diseases (MIPCD) Grants

    Issue Brief

    This brief provides an overview of the Medicaid Incentives for the Prevention of Chronic Diseases (MIPCD) grants and highlights key findings from the interim evaluation of the program. The brief also places these grants in context of pre-Affordable Care Act (ACA) Medicaid beneficiary incentive programs and proposed programs of states that are incorporating healthy behavior incentives into Medicaid expansion waivers.

  • Medicaid in an Era of Change: Findings from the Annual Kaiser 50-State Medicaid Budget Survey at a Forum with the National Association of Medicaid Directors

    Event Date:
    Event

    At 9:30 a.m. ET Tuesday, Oct. 14, the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured (KCMU) released its 14th annual 50-state Medicaid budget survey for state fiscal years 2014 and 2015. Kaiser and the National Association of Medicaid Directors (NAMD) held a joint briefing to discuss key findings and highlight trends and changes in Medicaid programs around the country.

  • 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.

  • Medicaid in an Era of Health & Delivery System Reform: Results from a 50-State Medicaid Budget Survey for State Fiscal Years 2014 and 2015

    Report

    This report provides an in depth examination of the changes taking place in state Medicaid programs across the country. The findings in this report are drawn from the 14th annual budget survey of Medicaid officials in all 50 states and the District of Columbia conducted by the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured and Health Management Associates (HMA), with the support of the National Association of Medicaid Directors. This report highlights policy changes implemented in state Medicaid programs in FY 2014 and those planned for implementation in FY 2015 based on information provided by the nation’s state Medicaid Directors. Key areas covered include changes in eligibility and enrollment, delivery systems, provider payments and taxes, benefits, pharmacy programs, program integrity and program administration.

  • Medicaid in an Era of Change: Findings from the Annual Kaiser 50-State Medicaid Budget Survey at a Forum with the National Association of Medicaid Directors

    News Release

    State Medicaid programs are in a time of transformation as the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, the focus on delivery system reforms and the improving economy drive changes in Medicaid’s coverage and provision of health and long term services and supports, with varied impacts on Medicaid spending and enrollment around the country.

  • Challenges for the Next Obamacare Open Enrollment

    From Drew Altman

    In this column for The Wall Street Journal’s Think Tank, Drew Altman pinpoints the Affordable Care Act’s five biggest challenges heading into the second open enrollment period.

  • Key State Policy Choices About Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services

    Issue Brief

    State policy choices about Medicaid home and community-based services (HCBS) shape these benefits in important ways for the seniors and people with disabilities who rely on them to live independently in the community. This issue brief presents the latest data from the KFF's annual survey of Medicaid HCBS program policies in all 50 states and DC.

  • Ask KFF: MaryBeth Musumeci Answers 3 Questions on Kentucky, Arkansas Medicaid Work and Reporting Requirement Cases

    Issue Brief

    A federal district court has set aside the HHS Secretary’s approval of Medicaid waivers with work and reporting requirements and other eligibility and enrollment restrictions in Kentucky and Arkansas. For context as this all develops, we asked MaryBeth Musumeci, Associate Director at the Program on Medicaid and the Uninsured, three questions about the implications of the decisions.

  • Addressing the Opioid Crisis: Medication-Assisted Treatment at Health Care for the Homeless Programs

    Issue Brief

    Health Care for the Homeless (HCH) programs, a subset of community health centers, play a significant role in addressing the opioid epidemic by providing medication-assisted treatment (MAT). MAT, which combines one of three medications (methadone, buprenorphine, or naltrexone) with behavioral therapies, is the standard of care for opioid use disorder (OUD). This brief presents findings from an analysis of health center data on the provision of buprenorphine-based MAT, as well as interviews with providers and administrators from 12 HCH programs about strategies they adopted to implement MAT programs.