Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Even as the COVID-19 vaccine roll-out is accelerating across the country, the public health and economic effects of the pandemic continue to put pressure on Medicaid spending and enrollment. In mid-February 2021, the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) and Health Management Associates (HMA) fielded a two-part rapid, mini-survey of Medicaid directors in all 50 states and the District of Columbia as a follow-up to the annual Medicaid Budget Survey conducted last summer. This brief provides insights into the current status of Medicaid enrollment and spending trends in FY 2021 and state projections for FY 2022.

More than half of those who received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine through a community health center were people of color, suggesting that health centers appear to be doing a better job of reaching people of color than are overall vaccination efforts, finds a new KFF analysis. People of…

Many Relied on Another Person’s Help to Try to Get a Vaccine Appointment As many states and local authorities ramp up their COVID-19 vaccination efforts, the latest KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor report provides the first in-depth look at Americans’ experiences trying to gather relevant information and sign up to get…

This brief reviews information available through state websites and publicly available vaccine distribution plans to provide greater insight into how states are addressing equity through vaccine allocation and distribution strategies, outreach and communications efforts, and data collection and reporting. It provides a snapshot and examples of state efforts in these areas.

This report shows about half over the age of 65 say they have already received at least one dose of the vaccine or have scheduled an appointment to do so. It also examines how easy or difficult it has been for people to get an appointment and information about the vaccine, and where the public would most like to receive it.

This data note looks at state Medicaid managed care enrollment data through March 2021 to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis on Medicaid enrollment. Data collected for 29 states show that the rate of Medicaid managed care enrollment growth was 18.8% when comparing managed care enrollment from March 2020 through March 2021. The rate accelerated compared to March 2020 through September 2020 and reversed the trend seen from March 2019 to March 2020 when aggregate growth declined.

As of Feb. 14, 2021, weekly new deaths among nursing home residents have decreased by 83% since long-term care vaccination efforts started at the end of December, compared to a 67% increase in new deaths among all non-nursing home residents during the same period. Learn more in this Chart of the Week.

In this Axios column, Drew Altman paints a more optimistic picture of the prospects for getting to herd immunity as vaccine confidence grows, but underscores the urgency of building vaccine confidence in Black and Latino communities where barriers to access and good information are obstacles to getting vaccinated.

While Enthusiasm Rises, a Persistent Minority Say They Definitely Will Not Get Vaccinated; Republicans, Rural Residents, and Essential Workers Outside Health Care Are Most Reluctant Groups More than half of Americans (55%) now say they want to get vaccinated as soon as possible (37%) or have already received at least…

Twenty-two states and the District of Columbia have vaccinated at least one-third of their residents who are 65 and older against COVID-19, an updated KFF analysis finds, but no state has crossed the threshold of vaccinating 50 percent or more of its older population. The share of adults 65 and older…