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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.
This edition highlights vaccine hesitancy and misinformation around MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccines as children return to school and measles cases resurge in parts of the U.S. It also examines emerging narratives around COVID-19 vaccine misinformation following the FDA approval of COVID-19 boosters and false claims linking mpox to the vaccines.
The 22nd annual survey of state Medicaid and CHIP programs officials conducted by KFF and the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families in May 2024 presents a snapshot of actions states have taken to improve systems, processes, and communications during the unwinding, as well as key state Medicaid eligibility, enrollment, and renewals policies and procedures in place as of May 2024. The report focuses on policies for children, pregnant individuals, parents, and other non-elderly adults whose eligibility is based on Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI) financial eligibility rules.
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.
At the start of 2025, many issues are at play that will affect Medicaid coverage, financing, and access to care. While Medicaid was not discussed much on the campaign trail, Congress may consider big changes as part of tax and spending debates and the Trump administration may make changes to Medicaid through executive actions. Amid the potential changes, this brief highlights ten key things to know about Medicaid.
This policy watch post examines the United States’ measles elimination status, including what it means to eliminate measles, whether the current measles outbreak could threaten the country’s measles elimination status, and what losing that status might mean for measles control.
In light of worsening mental health among youth, strategies have been implemented to improve access to behavioral health services in recent years, including expanding school-based care for students. Leveraging Medicaid to improve and address gaps in school-based behavioral health services has been a key strategy in recent years as youth mental health concerns have grown. Provisions from the Safer Communities Act of 2022 utilize Medicaid to expand both school-based health care and other mechanisms of youth behavioral health care. This issue brief explores the implementation of these provisions from the Safer Communities Act thus far, with a focus on the guidance issued from CMS.
This volume shares findings from the KFF/The Washington Post Survey of Parents about exposure to and trust in children’s health content on social media, along with misleading claims following the approval of a generic version of mifepristone, reports of autism possibly being added to the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, and patients using AI chatbots to interpret lab results.
This policy watch examines state-by-state school vaccine requirements and exemptions, including recent policy changes to them and the extent to which they may affect vaccination rates.
Amid debates about proposed cuts to federal Medicaid spending, this brief analyzes key characteristics of children with special health care needs and explores how Medicaid provides them with coverage.
Schools can play a role in promoting mental health and connecting youth to treatment. One approach that many schools have implemented is social and emotional learning, which teaches skills such as emotional management, resilience, and relationship building. This policy watch discusses how common these programs are in schools, how they are integrated, and what supporters and critics say about social and emotional learning.
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