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In response to long-standing workforce challenges in home- and community-based services, states have reported increasing Medicaid payment rates, providing more education and training or leveraging other strategies to recruit and retain workers.
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. It also covers policies that impact health coverage and access to care, medicine, and social and economic policies that influence health as well as efforts to tackle inequalities. The timeline includes 80…
As the U.S. tries to address rising rates of mental health issues, the impact of the new 988 national crisis hotline and other innovations will be limited if states don’t have the underlying crisis services available when people are directed to them. The core crisis services include crisis hotlines that connect individuals to trained counselors, mobile crisis units that provide in-person crisis support services, and crisis stabilization units that provide short-term observation and crisis stabilization…
Medicaid enrollment increased since the start of the pandemic, primarily due to the continuous enrollment provision.KFF estimates that between 8 million and 24 million people will lose Medicaid coverage during the unwinding of the continuous enrollment provision.The Medicaid continuous enrollment provision stopped “churn” among Medicaid enrollees.States approaches to unwinding the continuous enrollment provision vary.Maximizing streamlined renewal processes can promote continuity of coverage as states unwind the continuous enrollment provision.States have obtained temporary waivers to pursue…
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.
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.
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…
This report summarizes the major findings from KFF and HMA case studies in five U.S. communities, highlighting cross-cutting themes and the degree to which low-income women in diverse communities face challenges in accessing reproductive and sexual health care, as well as promising initiatives established by community providers to address barriers and improve access to these basic services.
Low-income California adults who gained insurance coverage in 2014 had an easier time accessing health care than those who were uninsured and increased financial protection from medical bills, according to a new Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) report. The report, funded by the Blue Shield of California Foundation and based on findings from the California sample of the 2014 Kaiser Survey of Low-Income Americans and the ACA, finds that newly-insured Californians were more likely to have…
The health care coverage and financing landscape for people with and at risk for HIV in the U.S. is highly fragmented and made up of a patchwork of payers and programs. This table provides an overview of the major payers and programs that provide coverage and services to people with and at risk of HIV.
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