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.
Underinsured in America: Is Health Coverage Adequate? This fact sheet examines the adequacy of health insurance coverage of the insured and focuses on the consequences and future policy challenges of what some experts have defined as "underinsurance.
This report, prepared by Marilyn Moon of The Urban Institute and Robert Friedland and Lee Shirey of Georgetown University's Center on an Aging Society, reviews the income and assets of the current Medicare population, provides an overview of asset tests used to determine eligibility for programs assisting low-income Medicare beneficiaries, and considers how alternative policy…
Researchers, clinicians, and policymakers examine the challenge of improving contraceptive use in the United States through a look at patient-provider relationships, currently available methods of contraception, the needs of special populations, and promising intervention and communication strategies.
Contraception in the 90's: Which Methods Are Most Widely Used? And, Who Uses What? A fact sheet and resource list on new contraceptive use data from the 1995 National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) from a briefing on the topic held in New York City on June 20, 1997.
This Health Policy 101 chapter provides an overview of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), a major reform of the U.S. health care system aimed at reducing high uninsured rates and alleviating issues like high out-of-pocket costs and coverage exclusions for preexisting conditions. The ACA significantly altered many aspects of the health system and the chapter explores its mechanisms, such as the Health Insurance Marketplaces, and the evolution of the law since its passage in 2010 to the changes in the 2025 budget reconciliation law.
Today a record three in 10 Medicare beneficiaries are enrolled in Medicare Advantage health plans, mainly HMOs and PPOs, which are paid by the government to provide Medicare benefits to their enrollees.
This report highlights 10 key findings on the Medicaid managed care market, based on analysis of data included in the Kaiser Family Foundation's Medicaid Managed Care Market Tracker. The findings provide a partial profile of the Medicaid MCO market nationally and by state. They also illuminate the involvement of large, multi-state health insurance companies in the Medicaid market and the participation of these firms in other markets as well, including the managed long-term services and supports market, the new ACA marketplaces, and the Medicare Advantage market. Finally, these selected highlights serve to illustrate the array of ways the Tracker can be used to understand more about the Medicaid managed care market and its place in the broader market.
This report examines the role of both Medicare and the Indian Health Service (IHS) in providing access to health care for about 650,000 American Indians and Alaska Natives who are age 65 and older or who have permanent disabilities. While Medicare provides important health care coverage for most in this group, its relatively high cost-sharing and gaps in benefits can be problematic for American Indians and Alaska Native Medicare beneficiaries who do not have additional supplemental coverage or who cannot access IHS providers.
The Uninsured and the ACA: A Primer provides information on how insurance has changed under the ACA and more recent policy changes, how many people remain uninsured, who they are, and why they lack health coverage. It also summarizes what we know about the impact that a lack of insurance can have on the health outcomes and personal finances and the difference health insurance can make in people’s lives.
© 2026 KFF