News Release Archives

Millions of Medicare Part D Enrollees Have Had Out-of-Pocket Drug Costs High Enough to Exceed the Catastrophic Threshold Over Time

Jul 23, 2021

News Release

Nearly 3 million Medicare Part D enrollees had out-of-pocket drug spending above the catastrophic threshold in a recent five-year period, finds a new KFF analysis that takes a comprehensive look at how many people on Medicare have drug expenses high enough to push them above that limit. While the Part D drug benefit has helped make drugs more affordable for people with Medicare, the lack of a hard cap on annual out-of-pocket spending under Part…

Disparities in Global Vaccination Progress Are Large and Growing, With Low-Income Countries and Those in Africa Lagging Behind

Jul 21, 2021

News Release

A new KFF analysis finds that only 1% of those in low-income countries have received at least one vaccine dose compared to 51% in high-income countries, highlighting the substantial vaccine inequities around the world. The analysis examines these inequities by country income level and by region, finding large differences for each. By region, Africa has the lowest coverage (2%) while Europe has the highest (40%), followed by the Americas (39%) and the Western Pacific (37%).…

Most Insurers Participating in the Marketplaces Don’t Expect COVID to Affect Their 2022 Costs

Jul 19, 2021

News Release

After a tumultuous year of unpredictable COVID-19 changes to utilization and spending, a review of early rate filings for individual market insurers participating in the Affordable Care Act Marketplace finds that most are expecting a return to normal in 2022 without the pandemic playing a large role. The review of insurers’ preliminary rate filings in 13 states and the District of Columbia reveals that most expect health utilization patterns to return to their pre-pandemic levels…

KFF/UNAIDS Analysis Finds That While Donor Government Spending on HIV Increased in 2020, Future Funding is Uncertain with COVID-19 Challenges

Jul 16, 2021

News Release

A new report from KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation) and The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) finds that donor government disbursements to combat HIV in low- and middle-income countries increased by US$377 million in 2020, reaching US$8.2 billion in 2020 compared to US$7.8 billion in 2019. Donor government funding supports HIV care and treatment, prevention, and other services in low- and middle-income countries. The rise in funding is almost entirely the result of an…

Vaccine Monitor: Some Who Were Hesitant to Get a Vaccine in January Say They Changed Their Mind Because of Family, Friends and Their Personal Doctors

Jul 13, 2021

News Release

A new KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor report finds that people who were initially hesitant to get a vaccine in January but ultimately did so often say that family, friends and their personal doctors helped change their minds. The report features a second round of interviews with a nationally representative sample of adults six months after they first shared their vaccine intentions in January, early in the nation’s vaccine distribution effort. The new survey assesses whether…

Workers Are More Likely to Get a COVID-19 Vaccine When Their Employers Encourage It and Provide Paid Sick Leave, Though Most Workers Don’t Want Their Employers to Require It

Jun 30, 2021

News Release

A Third of Parents with Kids Ages 12-17 Report Their Kids Are Now Vaccinated; Most Parents Oppose Mandatory Vaccinations for School Children As more employers return to in-person work, the latest KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor report shows that workers are more likely to have gotten a COVID-19 vaccine when their employer encourages it or provides paid sick leave to get the vaccine and recover from side effects. About two-thirds of workers report that their employer…

Poll: Few are Aware of Hospital Price Transparency Requirements

Jun 28, 2021

News Release

Few Americans realize that starting this year hospitals are required to post prices of common health services on their websites in a format patients can access and use, data from the KFF Health Tracking poll shows. Federal regulations that took effect January 1 require this price transparency for hospitals to allow patients to compare prices across hospitals and “shop” for lower-price care. The new survey data finds that 9% of adults nationwide are aware that…

Black Medicare Beneficiaries Are More Likely Than White Beneficiaries to Have Cost-Related Problems with Their Health Care, Across both Traditional Medicare and in Medicare Advantage Plans

Jun 25, 2021

News Release

Among people with Medicare, Black beneficiaries are more likely to have cost-related problems with their health care than White beneficiaries, finds a new KFF analysis, with the racial disparity persisting among beneficiaries in both traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage plans. While 17 percent of all Medicare beneficiaries, or about 1 in 6, reported health care cost-related problems in 2018, the rate among Black beneficiaries was double that among White beneficiaries (28% vs. 14%), according to…

Analysis: Half of Emergency Ambulance Rides Lead to Out-of-Network Bills for Privately Insured Patients

Jun 24, 2021

News Release

About half of emergency ground ambulance rides result in an out-of-network charge for people with private health insurance, potentially leaving patients at risk of getting a surprise bill, a new KFF analysis for the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker finds. Congress last year enacted the “No Surprises Act,” which prohibits most surprise out-of-network bills when a patient receives out-of-network services during an emergency visit or at an in-network hospital without advance notice starting in 2022. However,…

Although Their Share of the Market Varies By State, Enrollment in Medicare Advantage Plans Has More Than Doubled Over the Past Decade, with More than 4 in 10 Medicare Beneficiaries Now Enrolled in the Private Plans

Jun 21, 2021

News Release

The private plans known as Medicare Advantage now cover more than 4 in 10 Medicare beneficiaries, reflecting a more than doubling of enrollment over the past decade even as the plans remain a far larger presence in some states than others, according to a new KFF analysis. More than 26 million of the nation’s nearly 63 million Medicare beneficiaries are enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans in 2021. The share varies considerably by state, ranging from…

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