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KFF’s policy research provides facts and analysis on a wide range of policy issues and public programs.
KFF designs, conducts and analyzes original public opinion and survey research on Americans’ attitudes, knowledge, and experiences with the health care system to help amplify the public’s voice in major national debates.
KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the organization’s core operating programs.
This analysis examines trends and racial disparities in life expectancy, leading causes of death by race and ethnicity, and discusses the underlying factors that drive disparities in life expectancy.
This analysis examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic by race and ethnicity through the lens of premature mortality, using the measures of premature mortality rate and years of life lost among excess deaths that occurred during the pandemic.
Over the course of the pandemic, racial disparities in cases and deaths have widened and narrowed. However, overall, Black, Hispanic, and American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) people have borne the heaviest health impacts of the pandemic. While Black and Hispanic people were less likely than their White counterparts to receive a vaccine during the initial phases of the vaccination rollout, these disparities have narrowed over time and reversed for Hispanic people.
Response to the victims and communities affected by recent mass shootings has increased national attention to mental health care for Asian and NHOPI people, groups that too often remain overlooked in data and policy discussions related to health disparities. In this analysis, we explore mental illness and low utilization of mental health services among Asian and NHOPI people.
This issue brief provides the latest update on some key evolving immigration policies, including Title 42 as it applies to border enforcement, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, and the public charge rule and discusses the implications of these policies for the health and well-being of immigrants.
The four states along the U.S.-Mexico border are home to over 78 million people of whom 8 million live in 44 counties that adjoin the border and border activity is at an all-time high. KFF's county-level analysis of the region shows that people living in border states fare worse along socioeconomic and health access measures as compared to the rest of the U.S. and that people who live in border counties within these states, especially in Texas, face more challenges than those living in non-border counties. Understanding of who lives in the region and their experiences, including their health and access to health care, may help inform efforts to address their needs and improve socioeconomic and health outcomes in border areas.
Over the course of the pandemic, racial disparities in cases and deaths have widened and narrowed. However, overall, Black, Hispanic, and American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) people have borne the heaviest health impacts of the pandemic. While Black and Hispanic people were less likely than their White counterparts to receive a vaccine during the initial phases of the vaccination rollout, these disparities have narrowed over time and reversed for Hispanic people.
This analysis examines monkeypox (MPX) cases and vaccinations by race/ethnicity based on national data obtained from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). We find that while the current MPX outbreak in U.S. appears to be slowing down, disparities persist among Black and Hispanic people.
Rapidly rising rates of deaths by suicide and drug overdose among people of color, along with disproportionate impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, further underscore inequities in access to mental health care and treatment and highlight the importance of centering equity in diagnostics, care, and treatment.
A small number of states, as well as some local jurisdictions, are reporting race/ethnicity data on MPX cases and vaccinations and these data show a disproportionate impact of MPX cases on Black and Hispanic people. The data available to date on vaccinations also suggest that Black and Hispanic people are receiving smaller shares of vaccinations despite accounting for larger shares of cases.
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