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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.

Explaining the Muddle on ACA Tax Credits

In his latest column, KFF’s President and CEO Dr. Drew Altman looks at why the issue of extending the enhanced ACA tax credits has languished in Congress without clear direction, despite its importance to the 24 million people who get their coverage in the ACA Marketplaces today and the potentially significant role the issue could play in the midterms if the credits are not extended.

View All Beyond the Data Columns

View the Latest: From Drew Altman

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  • The Left is Getting More Active on Health Care

    From Drew Altman

    In this Axios column, Drew Altman discusses data from the new KFF/Washington Post survey on activism in America showing the role support for the ACA is playing in motivating political participation, and how, in a reversal from the last election cycle, political energy is shifting from right to left on health care as a new election looms.

  • The Politics of ACA Rate Hikes Will Be 2016 in Reverse

    From Drew Altman

    Democrats are expected to turn the tables and attack Republicans for rising premiums and sabotaging the Affordable Care Act. In his Axios column, Drew Altman discusses a balancing act they face which has not received attention: score political points, but run the risk of a new debate scaring the broader public and undermining the ACA by focusing on its continuing problems.

  • Red-State Changes Could Strengthen ACA, Medicaid

    From Drew Altman

    In an Axios column, Drew Altman discusses how, ironically, efforts by red states to move their ACA marketplaces and their Medicaid programs in  more conservative directions could end up strengthening the ACA and Medicaid politically over the longer term.

  • Don’t Overhype the New Health Care Venture

    From Drew Altman

    In an Axios column, Drew Altman dissects the many dimensions of the health cost problem and discusses why the Bezos-Buffett-Dimon initiative is unlikely to have much impact on the larger health cost problems the public and policymakers care about most.

  • Why Medicaid Work Requirements Aren’t the Same as Welfare Reform

    From Drew Altman

    Drawing on his experience in state welfare reform, Drew Altman, in his Axios column, discusses how new state Medicaid work requirements differ fundamentally from welfare reform, which was built on the idea of a “reciprocal obligation” between both beneficiaries and government to do more.  

  • Don’t Read Too Much Into Health Care’s High Poll Rankings

    From Drew Altman

    This Drew Altman column for Axios discusses how health care being ranked as a high priority, and as the number one issue in a recent national poll, doesn’t mean it will be a major factor in this November’s elections.

  • Tax Cuts Could Make It Harder to Change Medicare, Medicaid

    From Drew Altman

    In this Axios column, Drew Altman discusses how cutting Medicare and Medicaid has always been a challenge, but if the public comes to view “entitlement reform” as a means to pay for tax cuts, the GOP will have an even stiffer challenge, including with their base.

  • ACA Mandate Repeal May Be Less Popular Than GOP Thinks

    From Drew Altman

    In this Axios column, Drew Altman discusses how public opinion seems to flip on eliminating the individual mandate as part of the tax legislation, from for it to against, when the public considers the consequences.

  • The Biggest Health Issue We Aren’t Debating

    From Drew Altman

    In an Axios column, Drew Altman raises a health care issue that isn’t being debated, a large share of the public don’t have the assets to cover the cost sharing in their health plan if they get sick.