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.
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.
Congress is considering proposals to subsidize COBRA coverage. We discuss the group market coverage that would be extended by COBRA subsidies, how COBRA costs and coverage compare to other common coverage options for those who lose job-based coverage (ACA Marketplace plans or Medicaid), and key considerations regarding COBRA subsidies for consumers and employers.
These FAQs address questions related to prescription drug importation, including the current status of importation proposals, details of Florida’s importation program recently authorized by the FDA, and concerns and challenges with this approach.
The Supreme Court will review the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) this November in California v. Texas. This fact sheet summarizes the major provisions of the ACA, illustrating the breadth of its changes to the health care system. If all of most of the ACA is struck down, many of these provisions could be eliminated.
This KFF analysis finds that expanding Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium subsidies like Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has proposed would lower the cost of Marketplace coverage for nearly all potential enrollees, including the uninsured and others currently priced out of the Marketplace. Biden's plan would, however, increase federal spending, which we do not attempt to estimate here.
This analysis highlights key findings about the health care experiences of older adults (ages 65 and older) based on KFF’s 2023 Survey on Racism, Discrimination, and Health, including variations by race and ethnicity.
With Vice President Harris promising to address medical debt as part of her economic plan, KFF Executive Vice President for Health Policy Larry Levitt explores why it is a symptom of the broader problem of affordable health care and reviews recent efforts to address it in this JAMA Health Forum post.
In this column, KFF president and CEO Drew Altman explores why health costs weigh heavily among voters' economic concerns, even in an election where health was not a flashpoint. The need to reframe health as a pocketbook issue for voters will be central to the competition for the votes of working class Latino voters, two groups very focused on the cost of living.
This KFF/LA Times survey explores the attitudes and experiences of adults with employer-sponsored health insurance (ESI), including views of their health plans and affordability challenges related to premiums, deductibles, and unexpected medical bills. The survey takes a special look at those in high deductible plans (including those paired with a health savings account or HSA), those with chronic health conditions, and those with lower incomes. It also examines factors related to health plan decision-making and…
A new issue brief looks at the prevalence of potential surprise medical bills based on patient diagnosis, emergency visits, and type of inpatient admission.
A new issue brief examines compliance with a new federal price transparency rule and variation in payer-negotiated rates at U.S. hospitals. The analysis looks at the websites of the two largest hospitals in each state and the District of Columbia, and finds that a lack of consistency in the data and limited compliance among the hospitals sampled makes it difficult to compare prices across facilities. The brief is available on the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker,…
© 2026 KFF