The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.
President Trump announced a health care framework that leaves open key questions, including those about out-of-pocket costs, premiums, federal spending, and health coverage for people with pre-existing conditions.
KFF CEO Dr. Drew Altman analyzes President Trump’s “make a deal” approach to health care. He explains that while the president doesn’t have a health reform plan, or even “concepts of a plan,” or a replacement for the ACA, he does have a distinctive set of tactics that features one-off deals with the health care industry that are more like “health policy by transaction.” He writes that the deals “even do some good,” but “don’t change the long-term incentives of the health care companies that participate in the deals,” and a big question is “whether they have staying power.”
This policy watch evaluates state awards through the rural health fund in 2026, the first year of the program. The analysis shows relatively modest variations in total awards this year across states but wide variation in how much states will receive per rural resident.
Timely insights and analysis from KFF staff
While codifying most-favored-nation drug pricing could be helpful for bringing more transparency to these arrangements and guaranteeing that drug companies will deliver on what they’ve promised, policymakers would need substantially more information to turn these backroom voluntary deals into law. more
By suggesting mifepristone poses a danger to women who use it, anti-abortion senators are likely to create more confusion that could further erode the public’s confidence in the abortion pill despite its decades-long safety record. more
The updated federal alcohol guidelines simply advise adults to “consume less for better overall health” without specifying limits – a change that could portend a renewed rise in alcohol-related deaths. more
This brief discusses the current landscape of Medicaid GLP-1 coverage and examines recent trends in Medicaid prescriptions and gross spending on GLP-1s.
This brief examines efforts in 11 states to fill in funding gaps created by the 2025 federal budget reconciliation law, which prohibits federal Medicaid funding for reproductive-health care services provided by Planned Parenthood and other organizations that also provide abortion care.
In a new column for JAMA Health Forum, Larry Levitt explores how unaffordable health care is in the context of the debate over extending enhanced ACA premium tax credits and an upcoming election where affordability will likely be front and center.
This issue brief provides an overview of a new data sharing agreement for CMS to share Medicaid data with ICE and its potential implications for health care access and data privacy.
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Juliette Cubanski 
Audrey Kearney 
Heather Saunders 
