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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.
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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.
In this Axios column, Drew Altman shows that employer coverage for lower wage workers is much worse than ACA marketplace coverage for similar populations. It’s a bigger problem we need to talk about more, he says.
As Congress and the Democratic presidential candidates continue to discuss Medicare-for-all and other proposals to expand public health coverage, most Americans know little about how the leading Medicare-for-all proposals would reshape the way all Americans get and pay for health care. This month’s KFF Health Tracking Poll probes the public’s awareness of key elements of proposals to create a national health plan, including the leading Medicare-for-all bills introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Pramila…
This survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation and California Health Care Foundation gauges California residents’ views on health care priorities facing the state’s new governor and legislature, including health care affordability, access to care, mental health and substance use treatment, and provider shortages. It also highlights Californians’ experiences in the health care system, as well as views on the Affordable Care Act, Covered California, Medi-Cal, and proposals to advance a single-payer health insurance system in…
This report addresses a wide range of topics that are at the heart of women’s health care, as well as changes that women may experience as a result of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The findings in the report, based off a nationally representative survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation, highlight differences in health care for uninsured, low-income, and minority women. Other focus areas include: coverage, access, and affordability; connections to health providers; access…
The Kaiser Family Foundation has produced three documentaries to mark the 40th anniversary of Medicare and Medicaid. The documentaries examine the social needs that led policymakers to create these programs, the expectations of what they would achieve and the reality of these programs today. Key policymakers, staff officials and members of Congress involved in the creation and implementation of Medicare and Medicaid are interviewed. Extensive use of historic video helps tell the story of these…
Useful review for anyone seeking to comprehend complex issues leading up to major implementations taking effect in 2014
The latest KFF Health Tracking Poll explores the public's views on the U.S. role in distributing COVID vaccines to other countries, health care priorities for Congress, prescription drug regulations and price negotiations, and affordability changes in the COVID-19 relief bill.
In a new Policy Watch, KFF experts explain why Medicare’s preliminary decision to cover a new Alzheimer’s drug only for a limited group of beneficiaries is likely to intensify pressure on officials to reconsider the increase in the Medicare Part B premium for 2022. Earlier this week, CMS issued a preliminary National Coverage Determination that would limit coverage of the new drug, Aduhelm, to beneficiaries with mild cognitive impairment who participate in approved clinical trials…
To date, there has been little research providing a quantitative look at the causes of medical bill problems and the impacts they have on people’s families, their finances, and their access to health care. To fill this gap, the Kaiser Family Foundation and The New York Times conducted an in-depth survey with 1,204 adults ages 18-64 who report that they or someone in their household had problems paying or an inability to pay medical bills…
This analysis focuses on out-of-pocket drug costs for Medicare Part D enrollees in 2016 for specialty, brand, and generic drugs. Part D drug plans differ considerably in the drugs they list on their formularies, their use of formulary tiers, and the level and structure of cost sharing applied to those tiers. Plan decisions affect different beneficiaries in different ways, depending on the drugs they use. The financial consequences for Part D plan enrollees can be…
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