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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.
On Friday, Feb. 7, KFF hosted a conversation with Colorado Gov. Jared Polis and Washington State Gov. Jay Inslee about their states’ efforts to establish a public health insurance option and make other changes to address health costs and access.
Test your knowledge about health facts, policy issues and proposals that are emerging among the 2020 presidential candidates. The 10 questions focus on health issues in the 2020 election, including: health care costs, prescription drug prices, the Affordable Care Act and changes in health insurance coverage, reproductive health, and Medicare-for-all and public option proposals.
Many uninsured people do not obtain the treatments their health care providers recommend for them because of the cost of care. In 2018, uninsured nonelderly adults were more than three times as likely as adults with private coverage to say that they postponed or did not get a needed prescription drug due to cost.
A new issue brief looks at the prevalence of potential surprise medical bills based on patient diagnosis, emergency visits, and type of inpatient admission.
In an Axios column, Drew Altman previews new data highlighting that people with critical health issues are especially vulnerable to these bills.
The average person with traditional Medicare coverage paid $5,460 out of their own pocket for health care in 2016, according to a new KFF analysis and interactive tool. This $5,460 includes about $1,000 in out-of-pocket spending for long-term care facility services, averaged across all traditional Medicare beneficiaries.
This analysis presents the most current data on out-of-pocket health care spending by Medicare beneficiaries, both overall and among different groups of beneficiaries. The analysis explores how much Medicare beneficiaries spend out of pocket in total on health care premiums and health-related services, on average; how much beneficiaries spend out of pocket on different types of health-related services; and what share of income beneficiaries spend on out-of-pocket health care costs.
Ahead of the annual Affordable Care Act (ACA) open enrollment period, the time during which consumers can shop for health plans or renew existing coverage, KFF has updated and expanded its searchable collection of more than 300 Frequently Asked Questions about open enrollment, the health insurance marketplaces and the ACA.
Marketplace plans can now be sold through private websites, sometimes described as "direct enrollment” sites or “certified enrollment partner” sites. This short fact sheet explains how these sites and the plans they offer may differ from what consumers will find on HealthCare.gov.
This short explainer provides an overview of open enrollment and the 2020 individual insurance market, including Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplaces, for consumers who buy their own plans rather than getting insurance through an employer.
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