Home Beyond the Data Series

Beyond the Data: A Column by Dr. Drew Altman

Untold KFF History

Untold KFF History Volume 3: The Global Media AIDS Initiative

For the third in his “Untold KFF History” series, KFF’s Founding President and CEO Dr. Drew Altman discusses an ambitious and relatively short-term effort, the Global Media AIDS Initiative, which was led by KFF in partnership with the United Nations and UNAIDS, and involved mounting HIV media campaigns all over the world from Russia to India, the Caribbean, Africa and more.

Untold KFF History Volume 2: Kaisernetwork.org

In the second of his “Untold KFF History” series, KFF’s Founding President and CEO Dr. Drew Altman discusses KFF’s first big foray into health news: Kaisernetwork.org, which was an online health policy resource and webcasting service called “HealthCast.”

“We announced KFF’s new mission in March 1991, and from the beginning we had a twin focus on policy and media... But our first foray into directly operating a ‘news’ or news-like organization itself was kasernetwork.org, which began in 2000.”

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.

Americans May Be Smarter About Vaccines Than You Think

In a new column that analyzes recent KFF polling, Founding President and CEO Dr. Drew Altman concludes that only a sliver of the public hold definitive anti-science, anti-vaccine views, and are greatly outnumbered by the people who believe established science, with even more Americans stuck in a “muddled middle.” He writes, “when you see reports of social media engagement spiking about a health myth, don’t overreact. It’s more likely than not that it’s a relatively small group of Americans who already believe it talking to themselves, and they are vastly outnumbered by those who believe the science.”

The Midterms

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.”

The New Ideas Conundrum in Health Policy

Dr. Drew Altman writes about the “conundrum of health policy ideas” facing Democrats searching for new proposals because of competing, and complex, priorities: rebuilding Medicaid and the ACA after trillion-dollar cuts, reconstructing federal health agencies, and tackling underlying health care costs, when candidates want simple ideas they can campaign on and voters want their costs to come down.

"It remains to be seen if Republican candidates in close races will want to go head-to-head with Democrats on health care, despite Trump’s urging them to do so. They may feel they have other cards to play, and some will not want to highlight decisions they made to cut Medicaid and double people’s ACA premium payments in a general election."

The Midterms Lurk Behind Every Health Policy Move Now

Dr. Drew Altman discusses how midterm political strategy will shape health policy in 2026, focusing on recent moves by President Trump. He writes: “Democrats start out with a significant advantage on health in the midterms, but rather than cut and run to other issues, Trump wants Republicans to try to erode that advantage where they can.”

View the Latest: Beyond the Data

Filter

List Grid

21 - 30 of 66 Results

  • Explaining the Muddle on ACA Tax Credits

    From Drew Altman

    In his latest column, KFF’s President and CEO Dr. Drew Altman looks at why the issue of extending the enhanced ACA tax credits has languished in Congress without clear direction, despite its importance to the 24 million people who get their coverage in the ACA Marketplaces today and the potentially significant role the issue could play in the midterms if the credits are not extended.

  • The Problem Isn’t Trust in Vaccines, It’s That People Don’t Know Who to Trust

    From Drew Altman

    In a new “Beyond the Data” column, KFF’s President and CEO Dr. Drew Altman analyzes years of KFF polling on vaccines in light of the current controversies about them. The real problem, he says, is not lack of public confidence in the safety of vaccines — few say they are unsafe — it’s that polarization and misinformation have eroded confidence in what’s true or not, and in scientific institutions people used to rely on for…

  • What to Make of the $50 Billion Rural Hospital Grants Program

    From Drew Altman

    In his latest Beyond the Data column, KFF President and CEO Dr. Drew Altman examines the controversial rural hospital grant program, noting “Will the new $50 billion rural hospital grant program in the big Republican tax and spending law just amount to a bunch of ribbon cutting and big check ceremonies, or will it help rural hospitals offset coming Medicaid cuts, help them in general, or all of the above?”

  • The Mystery of How Many People Are on Medicaid

    From Drew Altman

    In a new column, Dr. Drew Altman, KFF's President and CEO, examines the different counts of the number of people on Medicaid that are currently in use, which range from 69 to 83 million, and why it might matter. He also discusses other ways to assess the reach of the program: “possibly it’s useful to explain why there are different numbers out there about what seemingly is an all-time simple question: how many people are…

  • Making the Marketplaces Great Again?

    From Drew Altman

    In his latest column, President and CEO Drew Altman discusses how, with nearly half, or about 10 million MAGA supporters and Republicans receiving coverage through the ACA Marketplaces, the policy changes and cuts being considered by Republicans to the Marketplaces will directly affect their own voters. Altman writes: "Republicans are no longer interested in repealing the ACA but seem comfortable shrinking it significantly if they can, so long as they don’t touch protections for pre-existing…

  • The Spotlight Is on Medicaid Cuts, But the ACA Marketplaces Could See a One-Third Cut in Enrollment

    From Drew Altman

    In his latest column, President and CEO Drew Altman shows how proposals contained in the House reconciliation bill could result in a one-third reduction in ACA Marketplace enrollment. “While all eyes are on the big Medicaid cuts being proposed in the House,” he writes, “significant changes are also being proposed that together would dramatically reduce enrollment in the ACA Marketplaces.”

  • On Medicaid Expansion, History Matters

    From Drew Altman

    In his latest column, KFF President and CEO Drew Altman discusses the history of the battles over the ACA’s provisions that were designed to expand coverage for the uninsured, which helps explain the effort to cut federal funding for the Medicaid expansion today. The real underlying issues, he says, are the same divisions that have always plagued the debate about covering the uninsured.