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From Drew Altman

Drew Altman is president and chief executive officer of KFF, a position he has held for more than 30 years since founding the modern-day KFF organization in the 1990s. He is a leading expert on national health policy issues and an innovator in health journalism and the nonprofit field.

View full bio | Read Dr. Altman's Beyond the Data columns

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“KFF is an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. We have four major program areas: KFF Policy; KFF Polling; KFF Health News (formerly Kaiser Health News); and KFF Social Impact Media, which conducts specialized public health information campaigns. Learn more about the organization. 

What’s unique about KFF, however, can’t be found in any description of our programs because we’re more than a sum of our parts. KFF is a one-of-a-kind information organization. Not a policy research organization. Not a polling organization. And not a news organization. But rather, a unique combination of all three. That’s the vision behind KFF, and it's this combination that allows us to leverage our combined expertise and assets to play our national role on health policy.” Read more

Beyond the Data

In his “Beyond the Data” columns, Drew Altman discusses what the data, polls, and journalism produced by KFF mean for policy and for people.

A Note on How the War in Iran May Affect Health Care in the Midterms

In a new column, Dr. Drew Altman, KFF’s President and CEO, discusses the impact of the war in Iran and rising gas prices on voter concerns about health care costs. He writes: “Recently, we saw health care costs rise to the top of the public’s list of economic worries, ahead of food, housing, utility costs and the cost of gas….Expect gas prices to rise and health care costs to fall on the list of affordability worries while the war in Iran lasts, but then to return to the top or near the top when President Trump decides to declare the major hostilities over, the Strait of Hormuz is open, and gas prices come down….health care costs have staying power as one of the top voter concerns.”

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  • Why the U.S. Doesn’t Have More Hospital Beds

    From Drew Altman

    With much of the news focused on the surge capacity of the nation’s hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic, Drew Altman’s Axios column today examines why the nation has a shortage of hospital beds and what can be done about it.

  • Why the U.S. Doesn’t Have More Hospital Beds

    From Drew Altman

    With much of the news focused on the surge capacity of the nation’s hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic, Drew Altman’s Axios column examines why the nation has a shortage of hospital beds and what can be done about it.

  • Even Supporters May Not Understand Medicare-for-All

    From Drew Altman

    In this Axios column, Drew Altman shows that the majority of supporters don’t know how Medicare-for-all works, with both positive and negative implications for support if they knew more.

  • Republican Voters Have Moved On from Hating the ACA

    From Drew Altman

    In this Axios column, Drew Altman analyzes KFF’s tracking poll and shows that the ACA is now yesterday’s issue for Republicans. They have shifted their sights to Medicare-for-all...at least for this election season.

  • What Iowa and New Hampshire tell us about Medicare-for-All

    From Drew Altman

    In this Axios column, Drew Altman analyzes data from the New Hampshire exit poll showing that support for Medicare-for-all played a role in the primary while broader support for a more moderate plan may be a signal about the general election.

  • Self-insured Companies Do No Better on Cost Control

    From Drew Altman

    A data surprise? Drew Altman, in his latest Axios column, shows there is no difference between large self-insured and fully insured companies when it comes to controlling health care costs, bucking conventional wisdom.

  • The ACA is Doing Fine Without a Mandate Penalty

    From Drew Altman

    In an Axios column, Drew Altman explains that the elimination of the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate penalty has had little impact on how the ACA’s insurance markets are working, showing that “the marketplaces continue to function, even when 'severed' from the mandate penalty,” and undercutting a central argument in the lawsuit seeking to strike down the entire law.

  • Health Policy in 2020 Will Be Made in the States

    From Drew Altman

    With a questionable outlook for 2020 passage of legislation on prescription drug pricing and surprise medical bills, Drew Altman says the real action to watch in health policy is likely to be in the states.

  • Private Insurance’s Costs are Skyrocketing

    From Drew Altman

    In this Axios column, Drew Altman takes a long-term view of the recently released federal data on health spending showing that spending for private insurance is rising much faster than for Medicare and Medicaid, and predicts rising pressure in the health care industry as a result.