Home State Health Policy and Data Topics

State Health Policy and Data

New and noteworthy

Map shows Medicaid expansion enrollment in counties that meet the criteria for the high unemployment hardship exception to work requirements, using 12-month average unemployment rates from June 2024 to May 2025.

What is the Medicaid Hardship Exception and How Could it Affect Who’s Required to Work?

The budget reconciliation law allows states to request a hardship exception for individuals who live in counties with high unemployment rates. The number of counties and Medicaid expansion enrollees that will ultimately qualify for the hardship exception will depend on how unemployment rates change, how the exception is implemented, and how many states request it. Nationally, 7% of Medicaid expansion enrollees (1.4 million) could potentially qualify because they live in counties with high unemployment.

State Health Facts

More than 800 state-level health indicators can be mapped, ranked, and downloaded

Tracking State Policy
State by State Data

Explore the latest national and state-specific data and policies on women’s health, including health status, insurance coverage, use of preventive services, and more.

Most "dual-eligible" individuals (8.9 million in 2024) are eligible for Medicaid benefits that are not otherwise covered by Medicare, including long-term care.

More than 800 up-to-date, state-level health indicators can be mapped, ranked, and downloaded.

Use this tool to build a custom report compiling health-related data for a single state or multiple states.

Latest News

More KFF Health News

Subscribe to KFF Emails

Choose which emails are best for you.
Sign up here

View the Latest: State Health Policy and Data

Filter

List Grid

1,151 - 1,160 of 1,224 Results

  • Performing Under Pressure: Annual Findings of a 50-State Survey of Eligibility, Enrollment, Renewal, and Cost-Sharing Policies in Medicaid and CHIP, 2011-2012

    Report

    The annual 50-state survey of Medicaid and CHIP eligibility rules, enrollment and renewal procedures and cost-sharing practices, conducted by the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured with the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families, found that, despite continued fiscal pressures on states, eligibility policies remained stable in nearly all state Medicaid and Children's…

  • Medicaid Enrollment and Expenditures by Federal Core Requirements and State Options

    Issue Brief

    To receive federal Medicaid matching funds, states that participate in Medicaid must meet federal requirements, which include covering specified “federal core” enrollee groups and mandatory health benefits. States also may choose to cover additional “state expansion” enrollees and optional benefits with federal Medicaid matching funds.

  • Update: State Budgets in Recession and Recovery

    Issue Brief

    State revenues have been rebounding after experiencing a severe decline caused by the Great Recession that ran from December 2007 through June 2009. Nevertheless, tax collections remain below their 2008 peak level and state and local governments continue to shed jobs.

  • How Competitive Are State Health Insurance Markets?

    Issue Brief

    Beginning in 2014, state-based health insurance exchanges will be created to facilitate coverage and choice, with the hope that enhanced competition among insurers will help to moderate premiums for individuals and small groups.

  • Mapping Premium Variation in the Individual Market

    Issue Brief

    This analysis examines how premiums for individual health insurance differ around the nation, finding that premiums can vary substantially from state to state. The average per-person premium in 2010 ranged in cost from approximately $136 per month in Alabama to more than $400 per month in Vermont and Massachusetts.

  • Five Key Questions And Answers About Section 1115 Medicaid Waivers

    Issue Brief

    This issue brief provides an overview of what Section 1115 Medicaid waivers are, how they are approved and financed, how states have used them, and how they are impacted by health reform. For many years, Section 1115 waivers have been used by states to test new coverage approaches not otherwise allowed under Medicaid program rules.

  • Health Reform and the Art of Federalism

    Perspective

    The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently announced significant changes to the premiums charged in the Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP), aka the "high risk pool" created by the Affordable Care Act.