From Drew Altman: A One-Pager on What’s Wrong with U.S. Health Care

Asked for a one-pager on what’s wrong with the U.S. health system, Dr. Drew Altman, Founding President and CEO, explains the top issues in this piece, published today as his latest column. Altman explains, “We have neither a competitive health care system nor a regulated one—we have a fragmented, micromanaged health system that fails to control costs and makes both patients and health professionals more miserable than they should be…”

The politics of health care are as broken as the system (and are a reason it is broken). For decades, Democrats and Republicans have not been able to agree on any major solutions to our health care problems and disagree sharply on the role of the federal government in health, forcing us to gravitate to smaller incremental changes where there might be some agreement.

perspective

Are Health Insurance Companies the Reason for Our Health System’s Ills?

In this JAMA Health Forum column, KFF’s Larry Levitt examines the criticism that health insurance companies are facing from political leaders, and explores the industry’s role in both causing and addressing some of the health systems’ biggest problems, including rising costs and prior authorization review.

medicaid

Tracking Medicaid Work Requirements:
Data and Policies

To implement Medicaid work requirements, states will need to make important policy and operational decisions, implement needed system upgrades or changes, develop new outreach and education strategies, and hire and train staff, all within a relatively short timeframe. The information tracked here can serve as a resource to understand Medicaid work requirements and state options, gauge readiness, and track implementation of the requirements.

California’s Plans to Implement Work Requirements Amid Major Budget Shortfalls and Cuts in Federal Medicaid Funding

A Closer Look at Nebraska, the First State Planning to Implement a Medicaid Work Requirement

A Closer Look at the Work Requirement Provisions in the 2025 Federal Budget Reconciliation Law

Implementing Medicaid Work Requirements: Lessons from Unwinding

Timely insights and analysis from KFF staff

Apr 23, 2026

CMS Extends Medicare’s Short-Term Bridge Program for GLP-1 Obesity Drug Coverage

Juliette Cubanski

Extending the short-term GLP-1 Bridge program is good news for eligible Medicare beneficiaries because it provides the certainty of obesity drug coverage at a $50 copay for a longer duration, but federal spending will also rise by some unknown amount since CMS hasn’t disclosed the projected cost. more
Apr 9, 2026

The Latest on Medication Abortion Access: The Court Awaits the FDA Review

Laurie Sobel

Despite for calls from Republican leaders and anti-abortion organizations for the FDA to act quickly, the Louisiana district court has given the FDA until October 7, 2026, one month before the midterms, to file a report with the status of its review and any updated timeframe for completion. In the meantime, clinicians may continue to… more
Apr 8, 2026

Medicare Advantage Insurers Will See Higher Payments as CMS Backs Off a Key Payment Update

Jeannie Fuglesten Biniek

The Trump administration this week backed off a key element of its Medicare Advantage rate proposal, resulting in billions of dollars in additional payments to private insurers. more

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new and noteworthy

Share and Number of People Without Insurance Grew in 2024, Increasing for First Time Since 2019

Companies Expand AI Health Offerings, Even as Accuracy Questions Remain — The Monitor

CMS’ New Approach to Federal Medicaid Spending in Cases of Potential Fraud

Tracking Key Mental Health and Substance Use Policy Actions Under the Trump Administration

health system tracker

How Does U.S. Life Expectancy Compare to Other Countries?

This chart collection examines how life expectancy in the U.S. compares to that of other similarly large and wealthy countries. Life expectancy at birth in the U.S. increased 0.6 years from 78.4 years in 2023 to 79.0 years in 2024, its highest-ever level. However, the average life expectancy in comparable countries was 82.7 years, about 3.7 years longer than in the U.S., reflecting a persistently wide difference in life expectancy between the U.S. and comparable countries.