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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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President’s Message

“KFF is an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. We have three major program areas: KFF Policy; KFF Polling; and KFF Health News (formerly Kaiser Health News), 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.

“…voters’ concerns about health care costs are having a moment, and will continue to do so through 2028, because voters see them as a dimension of their worries about the cost of living, which is their dominant concern right now.” — Drew Altman, KFF Founding President and CEO

A Guide to the Role of Health in the Midterms

In a new column, President and CEO Dr. Drew Altman says health care costs are playing a significant role in the midterms as one dimension of voters’ concerns about cost of living, and explains why pollsters, analysts, and candidates should look at it that way, and not as a separate voting issue. He writes, “The ‘issue’ that matters most in this election is cost of living and the cost of health care is a central element of it for voters.”

View All Beyond the Data Columns

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  • Most Americans are Practicing Social Distancing

    From Drew Altman

    Drew Altman analyzes data showing surprising numbers of Americans of all ages are sheltering in place and reporting social distancing, and discusses the implications in an Axios column.

  • Most Americans are Practicing Social Distancing

    From Drew Altman

    Drew Altman analyzes data showing surprising numbers of Americans of all ages are sheltering in place and reporting social distancing, and discusses the implications in an Axios column.

  • The Public Wants the Federal Government, Not States, in Charge On Coronavirus

    From Drew Altman

    Drew Altman’s column today analyzes new polling showing that rather than serving as backup to the states, the public wants the federal government to lead the nation’s coronavirus response. He writes, “The public seems to believe that in a health crisis of this magnitude, with a virus that doesn’t stop at state or international borders and the death toll mounting, a more uniform and aggressive national response is needed.”

  • 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. He writes, “It’s a result of past policies aimed at reducing hospital beds to control costs," he writes. "If we want to have surge capacity of hospital beds and equipment in place for the next crisis,…

  • 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.