What’s Really At Stake In the Medicaid Spending Debate June 2, 2017 Perspective In this Axios column, Drew Altman highlights that the federal debate about the American Health Care Act’s Medicaid spending reductions will ultimately be a debate about every state’s general budget spending priorities, as states discuss whether to offset reductions in federal revenues with some combination of cuts to their Medicaid programs, increased taxes, and cuts to spending in other areas.
Don’t Expect Medicaid Work Requirements to Make a Big Difference April 3, 2017 Perspective Under the Trump Administration, some Republican governors may look to move their Medicaid programs in a more conservative direction. In his latest column for Axios, Drew Altman discusses the arguments about Medicaid “work requirements” and why few people are likely to be affected by them in practice.
The Other Implication of the CBO Report: Election-Year Pain May 30, 2017 Perspective In this Axios column, Drew Altman lays out how the “political pain” from the American Health Care Act would play out over the next two election cycles if passed in its current form, based on the Congressional Budget Office’s analysis of the House-passed bill.
No, Medicaid Isn’t Broken May 15, 2017 Perspective With Medicaid about to be a focal point of debate in the Senate, Drew Altman’s Axios column looks at why the idea that the program is broken is more urban legend than fact.
Health Affairs Blog: Can States Substantially Reduce Medicaid Spending Through Delivery System And Financing Reform? September 7, 2017 Perspective In a Health Affairs blog post, Joshua M. Wiener and Melissa Romaire of RTI International and MaryBeth Musumeci of the Kaiser Family Foundation examine whether states could successfully cope with substantial reductions in federal Medicaid funding under a per capita cap or block grant system by improving efficiency in the…
A Backlash Against Health Insurers, Redux March 13, 2025 Perspective In this JAMA Health Forum post, Executive Vice President Larry Levitt recalls the mid-1990s’ public backlash against Health Maintenance Organizations (commonly known as HMOs) – all of which preceded the recent outpouring of health insurance concerns – as well as how consumer protections against coverage restrictions have evolved and fallen short.
A Focus on Contraception in the Wake of Dobbs June 13, 2023 Perspective In this commentary for Women’s Health Issues, a publication of the Jacobs Institute of Women’s Health, KFF experts discuss contraceptive coverage and financing policies, access points within the delivery system, and the role of mis- and disinformation.
Make American Health Care Affordable Again June 5, 2025 Perspective In this JAMA Health Forum column, Larry Levitt highlights how the Make America Healthy Again agenda aimed at chronic disease does little to address the affordability of health care and that efforts to lower federal spending on health care may worsen the problem, raising out-of-pocket costs for many people with…
Medical Debt: The Canary in the Coal Mine for Health Care Affordability September 5, 2024 Perspective With Vice President Harris promising to address medical debt as part of her economic plan, KFF Executive Vice President for Health Policy Larry Levitt explores why it is a symptom of the broader problem of affordable health care and reviews recent efforts to address it in this JAMA Health Forum post.
The Implications of the Public’s Pre-existing Condition Amnesia May 16, 2024 Perspective KFF’s Larry Levitt discusses waning awareness of the Affordable Care Act’s provisions protecting people with pre-existing conditions and examines the Republican Study Committee’s budget proposal, which proposes to repeal the provisions.
