Improving the quality and cost-effectiveness of publicly financed health care
Medicaid By the Numbers
Today Medicaid provides care for over 60 million Americans. With health reform, the program will eventually cover as many as 75-80 million individuals -- more than one quarter of all Americans -- including many with exceedingly complex and costly health care needs. A closer look at those served by Medicaid reveals significant opportunities to improve care, achieve better health outcomes, and stem increases in national health care spending.
- 60 million: People in the United States with Medicaid coverage.[1]
- $427 billion: Projected Medicaid spending for FY 2010.[2]
- 1 million: Medicaid beneficiaries resulting from a 1% increase in unemployment;[3] enrollment increased by 5.4% in FY2009 and is projected to increase by 6.6% in FY2010.[4]
- 16 - 20 million: Additional Medicaid/CHIP beneficiaries by 2019 due to health reform.[5]
- 41%: Births in the United States covered by Medicaid.[6]
- 28%: Children in the United States covered by Medicaid.[7]
- 50%: Medicaid beneficiaries under 65 who are from diverse racial and ethnic groups.[8]
- 25%: Medicaid beneficiaries accounting for nearly 70% of total Medicaid spending.[9]
- 5%: Medicaid beneficiaries accounting for 57% of total Medicaid spending.[10]
- 49%: Medicaid beneficiaries with disabilities diagnosed with mental illness.[11]
- 71%: Medicaid recipients who are enrolled in managed care.[12]
- 41%: Total long-term care costs financed by Medicaid.[13]
- 94%: Medicaid long-term care beneficiaries in unmanaged fee-for-service.[14]
- 8.8 million: People who are dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid.[15]
- 46%: Percentage of Medicaid dollars spent on dual eligibles.[16]
(Updated September 2010)
1 Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Office of the Actuary. National Health Expenditure Projections 2009-2019. September 2010.
2 Ibid.
3 S. Dorn, B. Garrett, J. Holahan, and A. Williams. Medicaid, SCHIP and Economic Downturn: Policy Challenges and Policy Responses, Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, April 2008.
4 V.K. Smith, R. Rudowitz, et al., The Crunch Continues: Medicaid Spending, Coverage and Policy in the Midst of a Recession, Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, September 2009.
5 Congressional Budget Office analysis of the Reconciliation Act of 2010 in a letter to Nancy Pelosi, March 20, 2010; Estimated Financial Effects of the "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2009" as Proposed by the Senate Majority Leader on November 18, 2009. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Office of the Actuary. December 10, 2009.
6 Health Management Associates estimate based on Congressional Budget Office Budget and Economic Outlook, January 2008; CBO Medicaid Baseline, 2008; CMS, Office of the Actuary National Health Statistics Group, 2008.
7 Urban Institute and Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured analysis of March 2007 CPS.
8 Medicaid Statistical Information System State Summary FY2004, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, June 2007.
9 Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured and Urban Institute estimate based on 2006 MSIS data.
10 Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured and Urban Institute estimate based on 2004 MSIS data.
11 R.G. Kronick, M. Bella, and T.P. Gilmer. The Faces of Medicaid III: Refining the Portrait of People with Multiple Chronic Conditions. Center for Health Care Strategies, Inc., October 2009.
12 Medicaid Managed Care Penetration Rates by State as of June 30, 2008, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, special data request, August 2009.
13 Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured estimates based on CMS National Health Accounts data, 2008.
14 P. Saucier. "Overview of Medicaid Managed Long-Term Care." Presented at the National Health Policy Forum on Medicaid Managed Long-Term Care, April 25, 2008.
15 J. Holahan, D. M. Miller, and D. Rousseau, "Dual Eligibles: Medicaid Enrollment and Spending for Medicare Beneficiaries in 2005." Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, February 2009.
16 Ibid.