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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.

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  • Understanding the Impact of Medicaid Premiums & Cost-Sharing: Updated Evidence from the Literature and Section 1115 Waivers

    Issue Brief

    Our review of recent literature on premiums and cost-sharing is based on studies and reports published between 2017 and 2021. Our analysis of premiums in post-Affordable Care Act (ACA) Section 1115 waivers (approved under the Obama and Trump administrations) is based on available interim and final waiver evaluations as well as annual and quarterly state data reports posted on Medicaid.gov.

  • Housing Affordability, Adequacy, and Access to the Internet in Homes of Medicaid Enrollees

    Issue Brief

    The COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing economic disruption have drawn more attention to longstanding issues related to housing and internet access and how these issues can impact health. As the primary source of health insurance for low-income populations, Medicaid covers a considerable share of people living in homes that are unaffordable, inadequate, or have limited access to the internet. This brief examines housing adequacy, affordability, and internet access within the homes of Medicaid enrollees using data from the 2019 American Community Survey (prior to the COVID-19 pandemic) and assesses the limited role that Medicaid can play in helping to address these challenges.

  • The Debate Over Federal Medicaid Cuts: Perspectives of Medicaid Enrollees Who Voted for President Trump and Vice President Harris

    Report

    The Republican-led Congress is considering plans to cut Medicaid to help pay for tax cuts, with the House budget resolution targeting $880 billion or more in potential reductions to federal Medicaid spending. To better understand the experiences of Medicaid enrollees and their perceptions of potential changes to the program, KFF conducted five virtual focus groups in January, including three groups with participants who had voted for President Trump in the 2024 election and two groups with participants who had voted for Vice President Harris.

  • Capping Per Enrollee Spending Could Reduce Federal Medicaid Expenditures by $532 billion to Nearly $1 Trillion Over 10 Years Depending on How States Respond and Result in as Many as 15 Million People Losing Medicaid Coverage by 2034

    News Release

    As Congress considers ways to cut Medicaid spending to help finance the extension of federal tax cuts, a new KFF analysis finds that imposing a cap on federal spending per Medicaid enrollee—known as a “per capita cap”—could trigger a decrease in federal Medicaid spending over a 10-year period of $532 billion to almost $1 trillion,…

  • Trump Voters On Medicaid, On Medicaid Cuts

    From Drew Altman

    In a new column, KFF President and CEO Drew Altman discusses how recent KFF focus groups with Trump voters on Medicaid show that voters were not expecting big Medicaid cuts from the Trump administration and worry about what the impact of potential cuts in federal Medicaid spending will be. As Drew writes: “Trump built a populist base of working people formerly in the Democratic party.” When details of specific Medicaid cuts emerge, tension could develop between “Trump and Republicans on the Hill who want to cut entitlement programs that now serve a significant part of Trump’s base.”

  • Why Most States Will Not Replace Federal Medicaid Cuts

    From Drew Altman

    In his latest Beyond the Data column, KFF’s President and CEO Drew Altman discusses how difficult it will be for states to replace lost federal Medicaid funding should Congress make significant cuts.

  • Medicaid Waiver Tracker: Approved and Pending Section 1115 Waivers by State

    Issue Brief

    Section 1115 Medicaid waivers can allow states to test new approaches in Medicaid that differ from what is required by federal law. This page tracks approved and pending waiver provisions (including expansions and restrictions) related to eligibility, benefits, and social determinants of health and other delivery system reforms.

  • Over-the-Counter Oral Contraceptive Pills

    Issue Brief

    Oral contraceptives are the most commonly used method of reversible contraception in the U.S. In July 2023, the FDA approved Opill, the first daily oral contraceptive pill to become available over the counter (OTC) without a doctor’s prescription. This issue brief provides an overview of OTC oral contraceptives and laws and policies related to insurance coverage.