Medicare and Medicaid Research

This annually updated guide to Medicare and Medicaid law gives brief overviews of the basics of many, many topics within all four parts of Medicare and within Medicaid. Because each discussion includes a reference to the relevant part of the Social Security Act, regulation, or Manual section it is explaining, it is a great source to use as a starting place for your research.
Available online through Cheetah.

CHCF writes on many topics related to the health care system in California, including Medicaid (called Medi-Cal in California)
Internet: CHCF reports tagged Medi-Cal or Medicaid

The CRS is a non-partisan think tank tasked with "providing policy and legal analysis to committees and Members of both the House and Senate, regardless of party affiliation." CRS does not make its documents available itself, but there are number of public domain CRS reports that have been posted to various websites. For UCLA Law students, CRS reports are available through Proquest Congressional

The independent body that advises Congress on Medicare issues has a limited number of explanations of the “basics” of some types of Medicare payment, and discussions of a few general Medicare topics. They are generally clear and relatively easy to read, but unfortunately, they tend not to be well footnoted:

This very well regarded non-partisan organization has a wealth of resources on various Medicare and Medicaid topics:

Health Affairs is generally regarded as the leading health services journal. Most articles require UCLA subscription to access.

Health Affairs is generally regarded as the leading health services journal. Most articles require UCLA subscription to access.

This organization advocates for a health care “safety net” for the poor, minorities, the elderly, and persons with disabilities.

this organization publishes articles on a range of Medicare and Medicaid topics (membership required, student membership is free as of May 2017.)

This bipartisan organization writes about issues that affect states, and advocates for state governments.

A non-partisan organization that examines health care law issues.