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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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This fact sheet summarizes the issues surrounding premiums and cost-sharing in public coverage programs and discusses the impact of these mechanisms on participation and health outcomes, particularly for low-income populations. Fact Sheet (.pdf)
This series of implementation briefs called “CHIP Tips” examines new opportunities for covering children following the reauthorization and expansion of CHIP in February 2009. Together Medicaid and CHIP provide coverage for more than one in four children in the U.S., yet many others remain eligible but uninsured. The series, which explores a range of topics, is jointly produced by the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured and the Center for Children and…
This Vaccine Monitor survey finds an increase in the share of parents reporting their child has received a COVID-19 vaccine, with 61% of parents of 12-17-year olds and 33% of 5-11-year-olds now saying their child has gotten at least one shot. Three in ten parents of children under the age of 5, a group that has not yet been approved to get a vaccine, say they’ll get their child vaccinated right away.
Medicaid, the main health insurance program for low-income people and the single largest source of public coverage in the U.S., turns 50 this year. In that time, it has grown to cover nearly 70 million Americans and become a key source of financing for safety net hospitals and health centers, as well as the main source of coverage and financing of long-term care. The program continues to be a focus of policy debate and partisan…
Nearly half of adults say that they will “definitely” or “probably” get the newly recommended COVID-19 vaccine, though most parents are not planning to get the shot for their children, according to the latest KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor poll. Among all adults, 23% say they will definitely get the new vaccine, 23% say they will probably get it, while 19% say they will probably not get it and 33% say they definitely not get it.…
Children’s Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) enrollment declined by 5.5%, or 2.3 million children, from March 2023, before the unwinding began, to September 2023, according to KFF’s latest analysis. Across all 50 states and DC, at least 14,377,000 people were disenrolled from Medicaid between April 1 and January 9, 2024. Medicaid eligibility levels are higher for children, raising concerns that they may be losing coverage and becoming uninsured despite remaining eligible. Medicaid covers…
This policy watch examines recent trends in children’s poverty rates and the impact of expiring federal aid, explores recent changes in Medicaid coverage for children, and discusses what to watch as families contend with these compounding changes.
This fact sheet provides an overview of the status of action to extend federal funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
A growing number of states, reaching 30 as of March, have announced that they are no longer following CDC recommendations as their benchmark for some or all childhood vaccines... The court’s stay does not change these states’ decisions and in some ways may allow them to avoid a potential ‘ping pong’ of federal vaccine policy that could result from future legal rulings or actions by the administration.
This brief provides data from the 2025 KFF/New York Times Survey of Immigrants on the health and health care experiences of immigrant parents and their children in the U.S. amid the current policy environment.
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