Medicaid

Work Requirements

Challenges with Implementing Work Requirements

Many states are anticipating a variety of implementation challenges, including the need for complex system changes, a compressed implementation timeline, and limited staff capacity.

What is the Medicaid Hardship Exception?

The number of Medicaid expansion enrollees who ultimately qualify for the high unemployment hardship exception will depend on how the exception is implemented and how unemployment rates changes.

Tracking Implementation of the 2025 Reconciliation Law: Medicaid Work Requirements

KFF’s interactive tracks key data and policies that will affect how states implement Medicaid work requirements, which are required under the 2025 budget reconciliation law starting in January 2027. The tracker includes state-level data on Medicaid enrollment and renewal outcomes as well as current state enrollment and renewal policies.

2025-2026 Medicaid Budget Survey

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.

The Essentials
  • 5 Facts: Immigrants and Medicaid

    This brief provides five key facts on Medicaid and immigrants as context for understanding the potential impacts of policy changes under the Trump administration.
  • 5 Facts: Medicaid and Hospitals

    This brief explains the role of Medicaid for hospitals, including how much spending on hospital care comes from Medicaid, the share of births covered by the program, and how Medicaid expansion has impacted hospital finances.
  • Medicaid Financing: The Basics

    Medicaid is a major source of financing for states to provide health coverage and long-term services and supports for low-income residents. This brief examines key questions about Medicaid financing and how it works.
  • 5 Facts: Medicaid’s Share of National Health Spending

    This brief explores how Medicaid spending contributes to national health spending and how different service areas contribute to Medicaid costs.
  • 5 Facts: Medicaid and Nursing Facilities

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

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  • COVID-19 Vaccination Rates Among Nursing Home Staff Have Risen by 25 Percentage Points Since the Biden Administration Announced a Vaccination Mandate for Health Care Workers Last Year

    News Release

    In a new analysis, KFF researchers find that COVID-19 vaccination rates among nursing home staff increased by 25 percentage points nationally (63% to 88%) from when the Biden administration announced the vaccine mandate for health care workers in August 2021 to after vaccination deadlines passed in March 2022.

  • Nursing Facility Staff Vaccinations, Boosters, and Shortages After Vaccination Deadlines Passed

    Issue Brief

    This analysis uses nursing facility-level data reported by the federal government to track the increase in vaccination rates among nursing facility staff nationally and by state between August 2021 (when the vaccine mandate was first announced) and March 27th, 2022 (after the vaccine deadline for health workers had passed in all states). Additionally, this analysis provides state-level information on booster rates among nursing home staff and the prevalence of staffing shortages after all vaccination deadlines had passed.

  • State Actions to Address Nursing Home Staffing During COVID-19

    Issue Brief

    This issue brief summarizes federal and state standards related to nursing home staffing prior to COVID-19 and builds on existing information by identifying changes to state minimum staffing requirements adopted since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. We also examine state legislative and regulatory actions since the onset of the pandemic that directly affect worker wages and training requirements.

  • Unwinding the PHE: What We Can Learn From Pre-Pandemic Enrollment Patterns

    Issue Brief

    This brief examines typical enrollment patterns for Medicaid and CHIP and uses 2018 Medicaid claims data to gain insight into the effects of the continuous enrollment requirements by eligibility group. Roughly 2% of Medicaid enrollees come on or leave the program in an average month, although there is variation across eligibility groups. A policy to require continuous enrollment would result in sharp reductions in monthly disenrollment rates and would also reduce monthly enrollment rates due to reductions in churn.

  • An Overview of Medicaid Work Requirements: What Happened Under the Trump and Biden Administrations?

    Issue Brief

    The Trump Administration aimed to reshape the Medicaid program by newly approving Section 1115 demonstration waivers that imposed work and reporting requirements as a condition of Medicaid eligibility. However, courts struck down many of these approvals and the Supreme Court recently dismissed pending challenges in these cases. Available implementation data suggests that work requirements were confusing to enrollees and result in substantial coverage loss, including among eligible individuals.

  • Medicaid Administrative Data: Challenges with Race, Ethnicity, and Other Demographic Variables

    Issue Brief

    There are persistent disparities in health and health care for people of color, which reflect structural and systemic inequities rooted in racism and discrimination. High-quality comprehensive data are key to enabling policymakers, community leaders, and other key stakeholders to identify and address these inequities and measure progress over time. Medicaid/CHIP administrative data, also known as Transformed Medicaid Statistical Information System (T-MSIS) or TAF (T-MSIS Analytic File), hold the potential to inform disparities research through detailed demographic, service utilization, and spending data of Medicaid and CHIP beneficiaries —but there are current limitations.