State Medicaid programs are feeling the effects of the current recession, according to a new report by the Congressional Research Service.

According to the brief report, state Medicaid enrollment and costs have risen since the COVID-19 pandemic began and states expect them to continue rising into their 2021 fiscal years.  State efforts to reduce spending are limited by provisions in the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which provided additional federal Medicaid matching funds to the states to assist them with their Medicaid costs during the COVID-19 pandemic but impose maintenance-of-effort requirements in exchange for continued state access to the enhanced federal matching funds.

Learn more about how the COVID-19 public health emergency is affecting state Medicaid programs in the Congressional Research Service report “Impact of the Recession on Medicaid.”