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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.
Health Policy 101 is a comprehensive guide covering fundamental aspects of U.S. health policy and programs, including Medicare, Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, employer-sponsored insurance, the uninsured population, health care costs and affordability, women's health issues, and health care politics. The Health Care Costs and Affordability chapter explores trends in health care costs in the U.S. and the factors that contribute to this spending. It also examines how health care spending varies across the population, the impact of costs on care affordability and individuals' overall financial vulnerability.
As health care costs dominate the national political conversation, our 2026 KFF Women’s Health Survey shows the toll those costs are taking on women. Our new nationally representative survey of women and men ages 18–64 finds costs remain a major barrier for women, specifically — causing everything from delayed care to rationed medications to cuts in spending on basic needs.
The KFF/AP Rural Voters Survey examines the views and political priorities of voters living in rural areas across the United States ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. The survey gauges rural voters' top election issues, growing struggles with cost of living and health care costs, as well as views on the Trump administration's health care policies.
Rural voters’ frustrations about the cost of living in their community are growing and appear to be chipping away at Republicans’ enthusiasm to vote as the midterm elections near, a new KFF/AP Survey of Rural Voters finds.
Adults with multiple or complex health conditions, who already face unique physical and mental challenges, commonly struggle to pay their medical bills and access needed care and medication—challenges that fall hardest on uninsured adults, according to a KFF survey of more than 25 thousand adults. “If the first obligation of a health care system is to take care of the sick, we are failing that test. Cost and access problems are hitting the chronically ill hard, and…
Significant shares of adults with multiple or complex health conditions, including cancer, lung disease, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and mental health conditions say they struggle to pay their medical bills and access needed care and medication. These challenges fall hardest on uninsured adults who face greater costs and access challenges.
This report examines how LGBTQ+ adults' experiences with health care costs and access compare to those of non-LGBTQ+ adults, finding that LGBTQ+ adults face significantly greater challenges affording and accessing care.
In a new column, Dr. Drew Altman, KFF's Founding President and CEO, discusses how New Mexico made childcare universal and became the only state to fully replace lost enhanced ACA tax credits while its leaders avoided polarizing labels like “progressive or “socialist.”
This analysis estimates that 1.2 million uninsured individuals in the ten states without Medicaid expansion, including many working adults, people of color, and those with disabilities, remain in the "coverage gap," ineligible for Medicaid or for tax credits that would make coverage affordable through the Affordable Care Act's Marketplaces.
On Tuesday, July 21, three experts joined Health Wonk Shop series moderator Larry Levitt in an hour-long discussion of health care affordability. During the discussion, panelists considered affordability from a variety of perspectives, including how to define affordability and the question of affordability for whom, how to measure it, and what can be done to address affordability and the underlying cost of health care.
In this JAMA Health Forum post, KFF's Larry Levitt outlines four reasons why high drug prices are in the spotlight more than hospital prices, even though hospitals accounted for 40% of the growth in national health spending from 2022 to 2024, and explores the potential for policy action to restrain them.
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