The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.
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.
With the depletion of the federal-purchased supply of COVID-19 vaccines, treatments and tests following the end of the public health emergency, this resource provides an overview of the implications of these changes for access to people covered by Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance, as well as those who are uninsured.
State Medicaid programs are taking steps to address the opioid epidemic. State Medicaid efforts include improving access to OUD treatment medications, covering over the counter Narcan, and extending OUD treatment to soon-to-be-released inmates--a population at high risk of overdose death upon release.
This brief uses 2022 data from the National Substance Use and Mental Health Services Survey (N-SUMHSS), an annual survey sent to all substance use and mental health treatment facilities to assess the supply and characteristics of these facilities at a national and state level. Despite the escalation of mental health needs and the increasing and evolving opioid epidemic, accessing treatment continues to be difficult--as indicated by consumer surveys and national data. Factors like the decline in psychiatric beds, financing barriers, difficulty accessing outpatient treatment, and the growing workforce shortages have led to more reports of unmet need and psychiatric boarding in emergency departments. Overall, there are approximately 14,700 facilities providing substance use treatment services and about 9,500 facilities that offer mental health services. More than eight in ten substance use treatment facilities and mental health facilities provide outpatient services; smaller shares offers more intensive inpatient services. Substance use treatment and mental health bed availability varies across states. Most substance use and mental health treatment facilities are non-profit; however, for-profit ownership is more common among substance use treatment facilities, whereas public ownership is more common among mental health facilities. Most facilities report high participation with private insurance and Medicaid, but lower for Medicare and there is variation across states. Reported Medicaid participation by substance use treatment facilities varies across states.
Ten months into the unwinding of the Medicaid continuous enrollment provision, states have reported renewal outcomes for half of all enrollees whose eligibility needs to be reviewed during the unwinding period, including 34% (32.1 million) who have had their coverage renewed, and 17% (16.
As the start of 2024, many issues are at play that will affect Medicaid coverage, financing, and access. This issue brief provides context for these Medicaid issues and highlights key issues to watch in the year ahead.
Social determinants of health (SDOH) are the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age. While there are limits, states can use Medicaid – which, by design, serves a primarily low-income population with greater social needs – to address social determinants of health. This brief outlines the range of Medicaid authorities and flexibilities that can be used to add benefits and design programs to address the social determinants of health.
This timeline offers a historical view of significant U.S. federal policies and events spanning the early 1800s to today that have influenced present-day health disparities. It covers policies that directly impacted health coverage and access to care, relevant events in medicine, social and economic policies and developments that influence health, and efforts to tackle inequalities.
KFF’s new interactive timeline explores how history has shaped racial and ethnic health disparities and the lasting effects that persist to this day. The timeline describes major U.S. federal policies and events since the early 1800s that are linked to present-day health disparities.
Like other immigrants to the U.S., Asian immigrants overwhelmingly say they emigrated for the opportunity to build a better life for themselves and their children.
In September 2023, the National Institutes of Health designated people with disabilities as a population experiencing health disparities, which will help ensure that people with disabilities are represented in research funded by the National Institutes. Also in September of 2023, the Biden Administration proposed a new rule that would update the requirements for nondiscrimination on the basis of disability. Among other changes, the proposed rule would codify the Olmstead court decision, which requires people with disabilities to be served in the most integrated setting that is appropriate. The new designation and proposed rule may reflect, in part, an increased awareness of the challenges and health disparities faced by people with disabilities, many of which were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath.
In this analysis, KFF examines the characteristics of people with disabilities who are living in the community from the American Community Survey.
© 2025 KFF