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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.
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Alcohol deaths increased gradually before the pandemic, jumped in 2020 and 2021, and have fallen somewhat since then. Even after these declines, deaths remained above 2019, the year before the pandemic.
New KFF polling explores the challenges beyond costs that people with insurance face in navigating the health care system. People cite prior authorization review as their top problem by a wide margin, with a third (32%) saying prior authorization requirements are a “major burden.” That’s more than say the same about understanding their bill or what they owe (23% say it is a major burden), getting appointments when they need them (20%), or finding providers…
KFF's health tracking poll finds that beyond costs, insured adults say prior authorization is their biggest challenges when accessing care. About seven in ten (69%) insured adults say prior authorizations are burdensome, and a third (34%) choose prior authorizations as their single biggest health care burden.
In this brief on Medicaid issues to watch for 2026, KFF explores how state fiscal pressures are likely to converge with the implementation of the 2025 reconciliation law to affect Medicaid coverage, financing, and access to care over the next year, especially leading up to the midterm elections.
This brief describes current state fiscal conditions as states begin fiscal year 2027 budget debates and highlights key areas to watch for Medicaid policy changes as states respond to fiscal challenges and the 2025 reconciliation law.
The presence of ICE at hospitals and health care facilities represents a reversal in policy under the Trump administration from previous policy that had protected against enforcement in these and other “sensitive locations” like schools and places of worship.
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.
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.
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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