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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.
For incomes too high to qualify for federal subsidies, 60-year-old adults spend significantly more of their income on the lowest premiums for ACA-compliant coverage.
The debate among Democratic presidential candidates about how to reform the health care system largely boils down to whether to build on the Affordable Care Act and create an option for people to enroll in Medicare or create a Medicare for all plan that covers everyone. On the other side of the partisan divide, President Trump has repeatedly promised a health care plan, but not yet delivered one. The president has vowed to repeal the…
Colorado voters most often cite education, health care and housing costs as the top issues for the state’s gubernatorial candidates to discuss ahead of the November elections, finds a new Kaiser Family Foundation/Colorado Health Foundation (KFF/CHF) poll. The poll of more than 1800 residents reveals Coloradans’ views on a wide range of issues leading into the 2018 midterm elections and highlights differences related to health and quality of life among key demographic subgroups, including geography,…
In his latest column, KFF’s President and CEO Dr. Drew Altman looks at why the issue of extending the enhanced ACA tax credits has languished in Congress without clear direction, despite its importance to the 24 million people who get their coverage in the ACA Marketplaces today and the potentially significant role the issue could play in the midterms if the credits are not extended.
The increase in Medicare premiums, deductibles and other expenses could be especially burdensome on low- and middle-income Medicare beneficiaries, particularly people who do not qualify for financial help from the Medicare Savings Programs.
This issue brief, Coverage of Abortion Services and the Affordable Care Act (ACA), summarizes the major coverage provisions of the ACA that are relevant for women of reproductive age, reviews current federal and state policies on Medicaid and insurance coverage of abortion services as they relate to the ACA, and presents national and state estimates on the availability of abortion coverage for women who are newly eligible for Medicaid or private coverage through the Marketplaces…
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…
While most people in the U.S. get health insurance through their employer, about 14 million people under age 65 have coverage through the non-group or individual market, which has faced scrutiny recently in news reports about some insurers’ steep rate increases and in the market reforms in the new health reform law that will take effect in 2014. This survey provides insight into the current state of the non-group market and finds policyholders report that…
This briefing, co-sponsored by the Alliance for Health Reform, the Kaiser Family Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and The SCAN Foundation, featured panelists discussing which deficit-reduction proposals affecting Medicaid might receive serious consideration by the congressional "super committee," as well as what kind of impact such changes would have on Medicaid enrollees, providers and state Medicaid programs. For more information, please visit the Alliance's event page. Full Video Speakers for this session: The…
A recent draft regulation issued by the Treasury Department describes who is eligible for premium tax credits to help them afford coverage offered through health insurance exchanges beginning in 2014. Tax credits will be available to people with incomes between 100 and 400 percent of the poverty level who are not eligible for public coverage such as Medicaid or Medicare and who are not offered affordable health coverage by an employer. The approach that the…
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