The Many Roads to Medicaid: An Overview of How People are Connecting to the Program Today

Recently, HHS and CMS have reported new eligibility and enrollment data for the marketplaces created by the ACA, as well as for Medicaid and CHIP, providing some of the timeliest data on Medicaid enrollment that has ever been captured along with preliminary information on how early ACA implementation is impacting Medicaid enrollment. However, currently, there is no single data source that provides comprehensive information on Medicaid enrollment. As such, to gain a full picture of enrollment in Medicaid, it is important to look across the different enrollment paths connecting people to the program today. This brief provides an overview of these different enrollment paths and national level data available to date on enrollment through these avenues.