Medicaid enrollment and expenditure by enrollment group 2021

Children accounted for 36.9 percent of Medicaid enrollees in 2020, which was the largest share of all enrollment groups. The elderly and persons with disabilities had the smallest shares, but together they accounted for more than half of all Medicaid expenditure.

Medicaid expenditures per enrollee

Medicaid is a joint federal and state health care program in the United States. The program provides medical coverage to millions of Americans and supports a variety of enrollment groups, particularly senior citizens and individuals with disabilities. Medicaid per enrollee spending is significantly higher for these two groups because they require more frequent and costly long-term care in the community and nursing homes. In 2019 of the total U.S. health expenditure on home health care, Medicaid paid one-third.

Millions of Americans are uninsured

The United States has a multi-payer health care system, meaning that some Americans will be covered by private health insurance, and others will be covered by a government program such as Medicaid. However, approximately 31.1 million people in the U.S. had no health insurance in 2021, and should they require health care, they would have to pay the full price out of their own pocket. This becomes a real problem for many because the United States has the most expensive health care system in the world.