Medicaid Spending

As reported in the June 14 Health Affairs article, “National Health Expenditure Projections, 2022–31: Growth To Stabilize Once The COVID-19 Public Health Emergency Ends”, healthcare spending is projected to grow 5.4 percent per year, on average, between 2022 and 2031. Growth in Medicare spending is expected to be 8.0 percent in 2023, with Medicare hospital spending growth anticipated at 11 percent this year due to an increase in volume and intensity growth. Among the major payers, Medicare spending is expected to have the highest rate of growth at 7.8 percent per year from 2025 through 2031, compared to Medicaid expenditures at an average of 5.6 percent growth over 2025 through 2031, and private health insurance spending averaging 5.2...

JAMA researchers found lower service use and lower Medicaid spending among the Black population for both during a review of health care spending statistics between White and Black Medicaid enrollees. Medicaid beneficiaries make up a diverse population, yet existing disparities persist. To explore differences in Medicaid spending between Black and White populations, researchers conducted a cross-sectional study using data from three states in 2016. Researchers used data from 1,966,689 enrollees in the study, including both adults and children. Of this population, 867,183 identified as non-Hispanic Black, and 1,099,506 identified as non-Hispanic White.

This brief includes the latest (FY 2018) Medicaid HCBS enrollment and spending data from KFF’s 18th annual 50-state survey. It contains data about per-enrollee spending on HCBS by target population and HCBS waiver waiting lists. This issue brief also includes tables with detailed state-level data. One key finding analyzed here is that most HCBS enrollees receive services provided at the state option.