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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 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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  • Two Substantive Sides to Debate Over Obamacare’s ‘Cadillac Tax’

    From Drew Altman

    In this column for The Wall Street Journal’s Think Tank, Drew Altman says debate about whether to keep or repeal the Cadillac tax is more than a debate between sound policy and good politics, there are strong substantive arguments on both sides.

  • How Primary-Care Physicians Are Handling the Influx of Newly Insured

    From Drew Altman

    In this column for The Wall Street Journal's Think Tank, Kaiser’s President Drew Altman is joined by The Commonwealth Fund's President David Blumenthal to discuss the impact of the Affordable Care Act’s coverage expansion on the primary care delivery system.

  • Why Higher Drug Costs Are Consumers’ Biggest Cost Worry

    From Drew Altman

    In this column for The Wall Street Journal's Think Tank, Drew Altman discusses why public concern over drug prices is the “tip of the iceberg” representing broader concerns about out-of-pocket health care costs.

  • Will GOP Candidates’ Positions on Obamacare Matter in Crowded Field?

    From Drew Altman

    In this column for The Wall Street Journal's Think Tank, Drew Altman analyzes the politics of Republican Affordable Care Act replacement plans and the challenges all Republican candidates will face distinguishing themselves from others on the ACA in a crowded primary field.

  • What Post-Katrina New Orleans Shows About Urban and Race Issues

    From Drew Altman

    Drew Altman discusses a growing racial divide in the city about perceptions of economic opportunity for blacks and whites and what progress and challenges in New Orleans may mean for urban America in this column for The Wall Street Journal's Think Tank.

  • At CMS, the Mission Is Broader Than Medicare and Medicaid

    From Drew Altman

    In his latest column for The Wall Street Journal's Think Tank, Drew Altman discusses whether the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' broad new responsibilities implementing the Affordable Care Act and a more proactive approach to Medicare payment signals that it’s time for (another) name change.

  • The Connection Between Health Coverage and Income Security

    From Drew Altman

    In this column in The Wall Street Journal's Think Tank, Drew Altman shows how expanding health coverage and improving economic security for working Americans are connected even though they are often part of separate policy debates.

  • How to Think About Higher Growth in Health-Care Spending

    From Drew Altman

    In this column for The Wall Street Journal's Think Tank, Drew Altman explains that just as we should not have expected historically low rates of health spending increases to continue, we should not dramatize a return to higher rates in coming years.

  • Medicare and Medicaid at 50 Years: Perspectives of Beneficiaries, Health Care Professionals and Institutions, and Policy Makers

    From Drew Altman

    In this article for the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), Drew Altman and former U.S. Senate Majority Leader William Frist examine the roles the Medicaid and Medicare play in the health system today from the perspectives of the public and beneficiaries, providers, and policymakers, and discusses the challenges they face in the future. The article is accompanied by an audio interview with Altman and Frist, who is a member of the Foundation’s board of trustees.