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KFF’s policy research provides facts and analysis on a wide range of policy issues and public programs.
KFF designs, conducts and analyzes original public opinion and survey research on Americans’ attitudes, knowledge, and experiences with the health care system to help amplify the public’s voice in major national debates.
KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the organization’s core operating programs.
This chart collection compares health care spending in the U.S. and other industrialized countries, including data on health spending per person and the growth rate in recent years and over time.
This policy watch reviews recent changes in federal datasets by the Trump administration, including removal of data or variables relating to race or ethnicity or sexual orientation and gender identity.
This brief describes Trump Administration efforts to scale back or modify data collection on sexual orientation and gender identity variables in federal surveys. It specifically focuses on changes in three national surveys that are representative of these efforts: the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS), and the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS).
This brief highlights some of the key federal agencies and offices that play a role in making Medicare work and, to the extent possible, describes the recent staffing and organizational changes made by the Trump administration that could affect the operations of Medicare in the future.
This Health Policy 101 chapter explores the federal government’s role in health policy for the fragmented U.S. health care system. It examines the impact of the three federal branches and goes into further detail about the Department of Health and Human Services structure and the major congressional committees dealing with health care. It also briefly outlines the federal budgetary and regulatory process.
This brief includes data on pregnancy and birth outcomes by race and ethnicity, describes the underlying factors driving disparities, and discusses current policies affecting maternal and infant health disparities.
This analysis examines how people of color fare compared to White people across 64 measures of health, health care, and social determinants of health using the most recent data available from federal surveys and administrative sets as well as the 2023 KFF Survey on Racism, Discrimination, and Health.
AIAN individuals experience significant health disparities compared to their White counterparts. People who identified as AIAN alone have shorter life expectancies (70.1 vs 78.4 years at birth), higher rates of chronic diseases, and higher rates of suicide deaths and substance use disorder.
November marks National Native American Heritage Month, during which the U.S. recognizes the culture, heritage, and contributions of Indigenous people including those from American Indian, Alaskan Native, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Island communities.
This analysis uses CDC data to look at deaths from COVID-19 for adults 65 and older. The findings show that deaths for older adults doubled from April to July 2022 and stayed high in August, before dropping again in September.
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