Medicaid

new and noteworthy

What Newly Released Medicaid Data Do and Don’t Tell Us

Understanding Medicaid Home Care Amid Focus on Potential Fraud and Abuse

Medicaid Coverage of and Spending on GLP-1s

Health Provisions in the 2025 Federal Budget Reconciliation Law

A View of Medicaid Today and a Look Ahead: Balancing Access, Budgets and Upcoming Changes

Total Medicaid spending grew by 8.6% in FY 2025 and is expected to grow by 7.9% in FY 2026. States say provider rate increases, greater enrollee health care needs, and increasing costs for long-term care, pharmacy benefits, and behavioral health are the biggest drivers.

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.

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.

A Closer Look at Nebraska, the First State Planning to Implement a Medicaid Work Requirement

Challenges with Implementing Work Requirements: Findings from a Survey of State Medicaid Programs

To better understand how states are preparing for Medicaid work requirements, states were asked to discuss anticipated challenges to implementing work requirements by the end of 2026, including related system changes and data matching.

Implementing Work Requirements on a National Scale: What We Know from State Waiver Experience

A Look at the Potential Impact of the High Unemployment Hardship Exception to Work Requirements

understanding medicaid

5 Facts: 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.

5 Facts: Medicaid and Immigrants

Confusion persists about immigrants’ eligibility for federal programs. This brief helps readers understand how current Medicaid policy affects immigrants as well as the potential impacts of policy changes under the Trump administration.

5 Facts: Medicaid and Rural Areas

Approximately 66 million people live in rural areas – about 20% of the U.S. population. Nearly 1 in 4 of them have Medicaid, a higher share than in urban areas (24% vs 21%).

5 Facts: Nursing Facilities

The substantial Medicaid savings in the reconciliation bill that has been passed by the House could have major implications for nearly 15,000 federally certified nursing facilities and the 1.2 million people living in them.

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.