Racial Equity and Health Policy

This brief describes federal citizenship and immigration status eligibility and eligibility verification requirements for Medicaid. Eligibility for federally-funded coverage under Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program is limited to U.S. citizens and certain lawfully present immigrants.

This brief presents research on the impacts of immigration enforcement on children, including school attendance and performance; provides data on the share and number of school-aged children by state who live in immigrant families based on KFF analysis of the 2023 American Community Survey (ACS); and discusses potential implications of declines in school enrollment and/or attendance among these children on school funding.

To increase understanding of how shifting immigration policies may affect the direct care workforce providing long-term care services, this data note uses the 2023 American Community Survey (ACS) to provide an overview of the role that immigrants play in the direct care workforce for long-term care (LTC) services

In his latest column, KFF President and CEO Drew Altman examines the implications of Secretary Kennedy’s reorganization of HHS and why it’s a sharp break from past efforts to reorganize the department.

This brief explains the potential impacts of the elimination of diversity and disparities-related initiatives under the Trump administration on racial health disparities.

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

There were gains in coverage across most racial and ethnic groups between 2019 and 2023 after several years of rising uninsured rates during the first Trump administration. The coverage gains between 2019 and 2023 were largely driven by increases in Medicaid coverage, reflecting policies to stabilize and expand access to affordable coverage that were implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This brief provides an overview of DACA and who DACA recipients are and provides estimates of health coverage, work status, and income among individuals who meet eligibility criteria for DACA.

This brief discusses the potential implications of increased enforcement actions under the Trump administration for the health and well-being of families and potential broader impacts for communities, the workforce, and the economy, including health care.

This post looks at federal government databases with key health data that went offline on Jan. 31, 2025, including several related to HIV, some of which had returned by Feb. 2, 2025. It briefly describing the affected databases, which include widely used, large-scale national health surveys, indices, and data dashboards, that inform research, policy making, and media coverage about health care and public health.