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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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Published in the Jan. 19 edition of JAMA, this article from KFF Executive Vice President for Health Policy Larry Levitt lays out the major health policy challenges that will confront President-elect Biden and potential approaches to major reform.While a big reform debate may not be likely this year, one is likely coming as the nation will need to confront much higher costs than in other high-income countries, worse outcomes in many cases, tens of millions…
For 2021, the average Medicare beneficiary has access to 33 Medicare Advantage plans, the largest number of options available in the last decade, and can choose from plans offered by eight firms. Among the majority of Medicare Advantage plans that cover prescription drugs, 54 percent will charge no premium in addition to the monthly Medicare Part B premium. As in previous years, the vast majority of Medicare Advantage plans will offer supplemental fitness, dental, vision,…
In this Wall Street Journal Think Tank column, Drew Altman discusses why adequacy of health coverage will rise as an issue when the political world moves on from its focus on the Affordable Care Act.
Since 1973, the program has also provided coverage to millions of people with permanent disabilities who are younger than age 65. This data note compares average per capita Medicare spending and service use for beneficiaries under age 65 to spending among those over age 65.
Medicare premiums and cost sharing will account for an increasing share of Social Security benefits in the future, Medicare Trustees project.
The health care costs associated with pregnancy and childbirth average almost $19,000, including $2,854 paid out-of-pocket, a new KFF analysis of large employers’ insurance claims finds. Unlike other analyses that examine costs of specific pregnancy-related services, such as a vaginal or cesarean delivery, this new analysis compares three years of health care claims for reproductive-aged women who gave birth to claims for women who had not given birth. The analysis finds women who give birth…
The brief provides a quick explainer of the prescription drug provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act signed into law on August 16, 2022 and presents new estimates on how many Medicare beneficiaries could be helped by those provisions.
A new brief explains the implications of the most recent legal challenge contesting the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) requirement that most private insurance plans cover specific preventive care items and services—such as contraceptive services and supplies, and cancer screenings—at no cost to patients. In Braidwood Management v. Becerra, two Christian-owned businesses and six individuals in Texas have challenged the legality of the preventive care mandates on constitutional grounds. The plaintiffs are also challenging the requirement…
This brief presents data from the 2022 KFF Women’s Health Survey about reproductive age (18-49) females’ preferences for an over-the-counter contraceptive pill (N = 4,088).
This post provides an overview of how health care coverage and access will and won’t change when the public health emergency ends on May 11, including a discussion of COVID-19 vaccines, tests, and treatments, and telemedicine.
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