States with the Best Medicaid Benefit Programs

As U.S. unemployment rose to 14.7% in April, millions of Americans are seeking unemployment benefits through Medicaid. Medicaid is notoriously underfunded at both the federal and state levels; however, some states are capable of providing better Medicaid benefits than others.

Our team analyzed Kaiser Family Foundation data on Medicaid costs and funding to see which states offer the best Medicaid benefits. We evaluated three factors to determine each state’s capacity to deliver the best Medicaid benefits.

• Cost of physician fee for service — Costs the state pays providers directly for each covered service received by a Medicaid beneficiary. Figures reflect a state’s fees relative to the national average. A rating of 1.00 is considered to be an average cost.
• Medicaid funding per beneficiary — Total funding for the state Medicaid program per person on Medicaid in the state.
• Percentage of total Medicaid funding by the state — The funding each state provides compared to federal funds. On average, nationwide, there is a 65% federal funding and 35% state funding for Medicaid in each state.

Each ranking factor was analyzed to compile a composite score determining each state’s overall capacity to provide the best Medicaid benefits.

Rank	State	Unemployment Rate	Cost of Physician Fee for Service	Total Spending Per Person	% State Spending
1	New York	14.5%	0.85	$12,591	49%
2	New Hampshire	16.3%	0.81	$11,596	40%
3	Wisconsin	14.1%	0.8	$10,090	41%
4	Minnesota	8.1%	1.04	$11,633	43%
5	New Jersey	15.3%	0.64	$8,856	40%
6	Pennsylvania	15.1%	0.93	$10,321	41%
7	Missouri	9.7%	0.79	$10,760	35%
8	Rhode Island	17.0%	0.53	$8,393	41%
9	Texas	12.8%	0.88	$8,842	43%
10	Maine	10.6%	0.85	$10,742	36%
11	Kansas	11.2%	1.01	$9,269	45%
12	Illinois	16.4%	0.85	$7,580	42%
13	Virginia	10.6%	1.1	$8,652	50%
14	California	15.5%	0.76	$6,822	40%
15	Massachusetts	15.1%	1.12	$8,670	45%
16	Vermont	15.6%	1.11	$8,907	41%
17	Wyoming	9.2%	1.38	$9,958	47%
18	Nebraska	8.3%	1.14	$8,535	47%
19	North Dakota	8.5%	1.35	$13,340	39%
20	Connecticut	7.9%	1.16	$9,116	41%
21	South Dakota	10.2%	1.1	$8,450	40%
22	Ohio	16.8%	0.85	$7,269	31%
23	Indiana	16.9%	1.05	$9,369	29%
24	Florida	12.9%	0.79	$5,797	38%
25	Hawaii	22.3%	0.89	$6,878	34%
26	Iowa	10.2%	1.04	$8,284	34%
27	Colorado	11.3%	1.13	$6,997	42%
28	Delaware	14.3%	1.4	$10,953	35%
29	Maryland	9.9%	1.35	$9,298	39%
30	Washington	15.4%	0.98	$6,662	38%
31	Oregon	14.2%	1.11	$9,369	27%
32	Oklahoma	13.7%	1.14	$7,282	39%
33	Michigan	22.7%	0.9	$6,698	29%
34	Kentucky	15.4%	0.98	$7,509	22%
35	Alaska	12.9%	2.28	$10,457	28%
36	Louisiana	14.5%	0.97	$6,452	28%
37	Utah	9.7%	1.19	$8,249	30%
38	North Carolina	12.2%	1.05	$6,090	32%
39	Arkansas	10.2%	0.98	$6,837	22%
40	Georgia	11.9%	1.02	$5,408	31%
41	Alabama	12.9%	0.95	$5,460	28%
42	West Virginia	15.2%	1.08	$6,862	21%
43	Mississippi	15.4%	1.17	$7,490	24%
44	South Carolina	12.1%	1.05	$4,946	28%
45	Idaho	11.5%	1.25	$6,179	29%
46	Arizona	12.6%	1.11	$6,074	23%
47	Tennessee	14.7%	N/A	$5,999	34%
48	Montana	11.3%	1.56	$7,060	22%
49	Nevada	28.2%	1.37	$6,574	25%
50	New Mexico	11.3%	1.19	$5,915	21%

Since early March, when COVID-19 began to increase unemployment claims, over 44 million Americans have filed for unemployment. Many of those 44 million jobless claims are seeking Medicaid benefits after loss of employer-sponsored health insurance. According to a study by One Fair Wage, 44% of U.S. unemployment claim applicants have been denied or are still waiting to receive unemployment benefits. The large number of Americans still waiting on unemployment benefits can be attributed to states’ capacity and ability to deliver benefits such as Medicaid. Our analysis of state-level Medicaid data can shed light on which states are capable of delivering eligibility and benefits better than others.

We evaluated each state’s ability to deliver Medicaid benefits on the cost of healthcare and how well funded states are for Medicaid. Both costs and funding appear to correlate closely as primary factors that would determine how well a beneficiary receives Medicaid benefits. The concerning figure is that states hit hardest by unemployment, like Nevada (28.2%) and Michigan (22.7%), are also among the worst states for Medicaid benefits. There’s going to be a high number of people seeking Medicaid benefits in those states that will receive the lowest benefit rates. Nevada and Michigan both have low percentages of state-funded spending along with low spending per person. This becomes problematic because states with the largest numbers of unemployed people also provide the least overall funding and high costs for those Medicaid beneficiaries.

On the other hand, you also have high unemployment states like Rhode Island, New Hampshire and California that are rated among the best states for Medicaid benefits. Good cost figures and funding among these states gives them the ability to better provide Medicaid benefits to their high numbers of unemployed residents. The unfortunate reality from evaluating Medicaid data in each state is that depending where you live in America, you could receive an unfair mix of health care benefits. A well-funded Medicaid program in one state will provide better for an unemployed person or family than another state.

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