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Medicaid provides health coverage for low-income children and adults, medical and long-term care coverage for people with disabilities, and assistance with health and long-term care expenses for low-income seniors. More than 58 million people rely on Medicaid services.

Medicaid is jointly funded by the federal government and the states. Each state administers its own program, and the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) monitors the programs and sets quality, funding, and eligibility standards.

This section of our Web site provides resources on Medicaid laws and regulations and keeps you up-to-date on the battle to sustain and improve this important program.

Children receive health coverage through Medicaid and the state Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). To learn more about CHIP, see the Children’s Health section.

The Latest on Medicaid and Deficit Reduction 2011

Talking Points: The Republican Presidential Candidates Call for Medicaid Cuts lays out reasons why Congress shouldn't trade defense spending cuts for cuts to the Medicaid program. These defense cuts are part of the automatic spending cuts that will take effect January 2013 as part of the deficit reduction deal. (December 2011)

From Families USA:

2012 Federal Poverty Guidelines are now available.

Designing Consumer-Friendly Beneficiary Assignment and Notification Processes for Accountable Care Organizations discusses the challenges advocates will face when developing these processes, and it recommends certain notification requirements and beneficiary protections. (January 2012)

Putting the Accountability in Accountable Care Organizations: Payment and Quality Measurements examines some of the challenges that advocates will face when working with policy makers, insurers, and providers to develop mechanisms that ensure that beneficiaries receive high-quality care at a lower cost. | Determining Shared Savings or Losses (January 2012)

From the Alliance for Health Reform:

Integrating Care for Dual Eligibles: What Do Consumers Want? answers the following questions related to the 9 million people who are eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid: How do the two programs coordinate payment and care? What do consumers think about fee-for-service and special needs plans? And what can policy makers learn about program design from the attitudes of consumers? (December 2011)

From the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation:

Massachusetts Health Reform: A Five-Year Progress Report examines major components of the law, such as expanding eligibility for Medicaid and CHIP, requiring all adults to obtain health insurance, and creating a health insurance exchange. It looks at how these provisions are working, the challenge of rising health care costs, and how health reform has affected coverage and access to care. (November 2011)

From the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services:

Informing CHIP and Medicaid Outreach and Education: Key Findings from a National Survey of Low-Income Parents reports that 93 percent of parents are “somewhat satisfied” or “very satisfied” with their child’s Medicaid or CHIP coverage. It also presents findings pertaining to awareness of these programs, barriers to enrollment, and preferences for enrollment methods. (November 2011)

From Consumers Union:

Addressing Barriers to Online Applications: Can Public Enrollment Stations Increase Access to Health Coverage? discusses the use of computers or kiosk stations in public places to make online applications more accessible. It identifies challenges and opportunities that policy makers need to understand as they design effective online application systems. (November 2011)

From Economists, Doctors, and Health Policy Academics:

Hundreds of economists, doctors, and health policy academics have signed on to a letter to Rep. John Boehner and other congressional leaders opposing their Medicaid cuts and a Medicaid block grant: “. . . block granting Medicaid is both unfair and unwise. During economic downturns it would expose states to the full costs of increasing enrollments just when their revenues are falling." The letter concludes, “The only effective and equitable way to curb total health care spending, and the only way to address the fiscal burdens of that care, is to support systemic health reform. The best current hope for doing so is the Affordable Care Act, which should be implemented with vigor.”

From Health Affairs:

Medicaid Expansion under Health Reform May Increase Service Use and Improve Access for Low-Income Adults with Diabetes explains that Medicaid’s role as a primary financer of diabetes care will grow in 2014 when the Affordable Care Act expands eligibility for low-income people. These people will likely enter the program with unmet needs, and Medicaid coverage will likely result in improved access to and use of health care. This may have implications for Medicaid coverage of other chronic conditions. (January 2012)

From the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured:

Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services Programs: Data Update summarizes significant trends for three main home and community-based services (HCBS) programs that are alternatives to institutional long-term care. (December 2011)

Faces of Medicaid profiles 16 individuals and families who rely on Medicaid and describes the diverse ways in which the program has helped them. Videos and recordings of the people telling their own stories are also available. (November 2011)

From the Kaiser Family Foundation:

Medicaid’s Role for Women across the Lifespan: Current Issues and the Impact of the Affordable Care Act discusses the importance of Medicaid for the 21 million women that it covers. With Medicaid, low-income women have access to reproductive health care, care for chronic conditions and disabilities, and long-term services. (January 2012)

Women’s Health Insurance Coverage describes the different sources of health insurance for women and discusses how the Affordable Care Act will help the 20 percent of women ages 18 to 64 who are uninsured. (December 2011)

New CMS Estimates of State-by-State Health Expenditures examines trends in spending and their implications for several efforts to constrain health care costs, including provisions of the Affordable Care Act and various state initiatives. A video and podcast are available. (December 2011)

Resources on Deficit-Reduction Plans provides a collection of pieces devoted to ongoing deficit reduction efforts and how they may affect Medicare, Medicaid, and other health care programs. (November 2011)

From the National Academy of Social Insurance and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation:

Building a Relationship between Medicaid, the Exchange, and the Individual Insurance Market focuses on the following key areas where states can focus their efforts to promote continuity of coverage: establishing a joint strategy to align health plan policies across markets, aligning the eligibility determination and redetermination process, and coordinating benefit design across multiple markets. (January 2012)

From the National Senior Citizens Law Center:

Improving the Qualified Medicare Benefit Program for Dual Eligibles explains the Qualified Medicare Beneficiary (QMB) program and focuses on four problem areas that prevent people from fully using their Medicare benefits. It recommends methods for improvement and proposes a comprehensive redesign of the QMB program. (November 2011)

From the Urban Institute:

Long-Term Care in an Era of Shrinking Government features panelists discussing how the country can deliver and finance long-term care for its rapidly aging population, what role providers will play as Medicare and Medicaid payments are cut, how communities can help elderly or disabled neighbors, and how to better prepare the long-term care workforce. (November 2011)

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