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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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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.

Reaching Voters on Health

What do voters want to see most on health from candidates? A plan? That they feel their pain? In a new column, Dr. Drew Altman, Founding President and CEO, discusses findings from a new KFF poll and writes: “Voters say what matters most to them is to see candidates show some ‘fight’ by taking on drug and insurance companies they have come to see as villains.”

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  • Health Cost Growth Is Down, Or Not. It Depends Who You Ask.

    From Drew Altman

    In this Policy Insight, Kaiser President and CEO Drew Altman explores the disconnect between experts, national studies and the public about whether health care costs are slowing or accelerating—it’s a matter of perspective.

  • Obamacare Vital Signs Not Just Numbers

    From Drew Altman

    In his latest column, Kaiser President and CEO Drew Altman discusses the focus on first year metrics, especially enrollment projections, in the ACA debate.

  • No Quick Verdict on Obamacare

    From Drew Altman

    This column originally appeared in Politico on September 30. Dr. Altman's future Politico columns will be posted on kff.org one day after publication. October 1, the focus of great attention in the Obamacare wars, is finally here. Today is the day open enrollment begins for the new health insurance marketplaces, where Americans can log on and sign up for coverage. The media, opponents, and proponents have been gearing up for a big day — or,…

  • How Obamacare May Be Holding Down Costs

    From Drew Altman

    In his latest column published in Politico, Kaiser President and CEO Drew Altman examines the recent historic slowdown in health-care costs and discusses whether Obamacare is a contributing factor.

  • Pre-X Redux

    From Drew Altman

    With the focus now mainly on exchanges, Medicaid expansions, and enrolling the uninsured in newly available coverage arrangements, there is less attention lately to the ACA insurance reforms which have always been the most popular parts of the law – changes which could affect every American’s insurance in some way and which go into effect regardless of the implementation decisions states make.  In this column, I draw on our recent tracking polls to review where…

  • Covering The ACA May Be Almost As Hard As Implementing It

    From Drew Altman

    This Pulling It Together was adapted from a column I published earlier this week in Politico, with a new introduction added. You can read the original Politico column here. The implementation of the ACA is news and the public will demand information about it. Journalists and news organizations have an obligation to cover this story.  As Kaiser CEO I serve as the publisher of our non-profit news service, Kaiser Health News, and also as the head…

  • Poor People Have the Same Needs as Others

    From Drew Altman

    Drew Altman, President and CEO of the Foundation, was asked to contribute to the New York Times' Room for Debate discussion on More Medicaid, More Health? In his piece, Dr. Altman concludes "Insurance -- public or private -- provides financial protection and access to medical care which low-income people need just as everybody else does. But it cannot by itself change behavior, alleviate poverty, or guarantee that the medical system is doing all it can…

  • Can We Learn From ACA Implementation and Improve the Law?

    From Drew Altman

    Senator Baucus made headlines recently when he predicted a “train wreck” for Obamacare. David Brooks predicted “chaos” in a recent column. In a news conference, the President offered a different perspective.  “There’ll still be, you know, glitches and bumps…. That’s pretty much true of every government program that’s ever been set up,” Obama said. “But if we stay with it, and we understand what our long-term objective is, which is making sure that in a…

  • We Still Have a Health-Care Spending Problem

    From Drew Altman

    Drew Altman, President and CEO of the Foundation, and Larry Levitt, Senior Vice President, co-authored a Washington Post op-ed that examined how the economy affects the nation’s health spending.  It concludes that the record slow growth rate of recent years stems largely from economic factors beyond the health system, with the economy explaining 77 percent of the slowdown, and more rapid growth expected in coming years if the economy strengthens as expected.  The op-ed was based…

  • Questions for 2014

    From Drew Altman

    Today’s discussion of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is focused on immediate implementation milestones leading up to 2014 when the law’s major provisions are set to kick in.  This is a critical period when the foundation for the ACA is being established and key building blocks such as the state Medicaid expansions, exchanges, and a host of regulations about other elements of the ACA being produced by HHS are getting our attention. But there is…