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Which states had the lowest Medicaid spending per capita in 2022 and why?
Executive summary
Available sources list state-by-state totals and per-enrollee measures for Medicaid in 2022 but do not provide a definitive ranked list of states with the lowest Medicaid spending per capita in 2022 in one place; Statista and CMS/KFF summaries show wide variation across states and identify very low total spending states such as Wyoming and low per-enrollee states in prior years (e.g., Georgia in 2020) [1] [2] [3]. Detailed, official per-capita rankings for 2022 are not clearly tabulated in the provided search results (not found in current reporting).
1. What the data sources you provided actually contain
The linked Statista pages report total Medicaid spending by state for federal fiscal year 2022, noting large differences in absolute dollars (for example, California nearly $118.9 billion vs. Wyoming around $0.7 billion) [1] [3]. CMS historical fact-sheets show that per-enrollee and per-capita Medicaid spending varies substantially across time and states — for example, a CMS summary cited Medicaid spending per enrollee as high in North Dakota and low in Georgia in 2020 — but that particular fact sheet does not offer a simple ranked per-capita list for 2022 in the search results provided [2]. The Medicaid.gov scorecard pages referenced exist to present per-enrollee/per-capita measures but the excerpts here did not include a clear 2022 ranking [4] [5].
2. Which states appeared at the bottom for absolute 2022 spending and why that’s not the same as “per capita”
Statista’s compilation of total Medicaid spending in 2022 shows very small-dollar totals for the least-populous states — e.g., Wyoming’s total in 2022 was roughly $0.7 billion — which places such states at the bottom of absolute spending by state [1] [3]. However, total spending is driven heavily by state population and program size; a small total does not mean a low per-capita (or per-enrollee) spending rate. The sources stress that per-capita and per-enrollee measures can tell a different story than raw totals [2] [3].
3. Factors that drive low Medicaid spending per capita (what “why” usually means)
Available sources point to several structural drivers that explain interstate differences in Medicaid spending: population size and demographics (older populations or higher disability rates raise per-enrollee costs); state policy choices on eligibility and benefits (states set eligibility rules and benefit packages within federal guardrails); FMAP (federal match rates tied to per-capita income affect how much federal versus state dollars flow into programs); and the share of spending devoted to long‑term care, which is a major Medicaid cost driver [2] [6] [7]. None of the provided excerpts list a clean attribution of the lowest per-capita spenders in 2022 to these factors specifically by state, but these are the mechanisms the cited sources highlight [2] [6] [7].
4. What reporting and federal analyses emphasize about recent trends that affect 2022 figures
Reporting and policy briefs in the search results emphasize pandemic-era and post‑pandemic dynamics: federal pandemic-era funding, continuous enrollment and enhanced FMAP temporarily raised overall Medicaid outlays and changed state fiscal shares in 2022, and the unwinding of pandemic-era rules and the phase-down of federal support have been central to interpreting 2022 data [8] [9]. The National Association of Medicaid Directors and Pew note shifts in states’ shares of costs and caution that federal funding changes influence year-to-year comparisons [8] [9].
5. Limitations in answering “which states had the lowest Medicaid spending per capita in 2022” from the provided material
The specific question asks for per-capita (per-resident) Medicaid spending rankings for 2022. The provided search results include total-spending tables (Statista) and historical per-enrollee examples (CMS), plus general policy context (Pew, Newsweek, KFF), but do not include a single authoritative ranked per-capita list for 2022 in the excerpts supplied (not found in current reporting). Therefore, naming the definitive lowest per-capita spenders for 2022 would require consulting the Medicaid.gov scorecard or KFF state indicators directly for the 2022 per-capita metric — pages that are referenced but whose detailed numbers were not included here [4] [5] [3].
6. How to get a precise answer and what to expect when you do
To produce a precise ranked list for 2022, consult: (a) the Medicaid.gov Scorecard “Medicaid Per Capita Expenditures” measure for FY2022 and (b) KFF’s state Medicaid spending per enrollee/per capita indicators for FY2022. The scorecard and KFF typically show geographic patterns — lower per-capita spending in many Mountain and some Southern states, higher in Northeastern and some Plains states — and will explain whether low per-capita figures stem from lower program generosity, younger/healthier populations, or simply lower enrollment rates [4] [5] [3].
If you want, I can retrieve the specific Medicaid.gov scorecard or KFF per-capita table for fiscal 2022 and produce a ranked list plus state-by-state explanations using those exact figures (sources to be cited from those pages).