The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.
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.
State Health Facts is a KFF project that provides free, up-to-date, and easy-to-use health data for all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the United States. It offers data on specific types of health insurance coverage, including employer-sponsored, Medicaid, Medicare, as well as people who are uninsured by demographic characteristics, including age, race/ethnicity, work status, gender, and income. There are also data on health insurance status for a state's population overall and broken down by age, gender, and income.
In this commentary for Barron's, Cynthia Cox and Lindsey Dawson examine the cost and availability of at-home COVID-19 tests and how the new Biden administration policy requiring private insurances to cover their costs may work.
Less than a week after a new federal mandate to cover such products took effect, about half of the nation’s largest private insurers allow enrollees to directly obtain rapid at-home COVID-19 tests from specific sources without having to pay anything upfront, a new KFF analysis finds. The new coverage requirement took effect Jan. 15, just five days after the Biden administration released detailed guidance about implementing the new requirements originally announced on Dec. 2.. The…
In this analysis, we explore the implications of the Build Back Better Act's current coverage provisions for people with HIV in select non-expansion states. We estimate the size of the population that could gain eligibility as well as their socio-demographic characteristics, examine their affordability barriers and assess the potential impact on the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program. We also explore what Medicaid expansion could mean in these non-expansion states for people with HIV.
This issue brief describes key characteristics of SSI enrollees, explains the SSI eligibility criteria and eligibility determination process, and considers the implications of changes in the SSI program for Medicaid, including the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic downturn as well as proposals supported by President Biden that Congress might consider.
This issue brief highlights key differences between Medicare and Medicaid and raises questions about how a policy to lower the age of Medicare eligibility could affect individuals who are currently enrolled in Medicaid.
This fact sheet provides a basic overview of community health centers, covering issues such as the patients they serve, the services they provide and the financing they receive. Community health centers provided comprehensive primary care to 16.1 million patients in 2007. Fact Sheet (.pdf)
Several years ago Joanne Silberner from NPR offered some advice I liked. Joanne said that the secret to effective communication was to "have a killer anecdote and a killer number." Here is a killer number: 19.7. That's the average number of years between major attempts at health reform since Harry Truman made health reform a top priority and his plan was branded a socialist plot and soundly defeated in 1950. The chart below chronicles the…
To receive federal Medicaid matching funds, states that participate in Medicaid must meet federal requirements, which include covering specified “federal core” enrollee groups and mandatory health benefits. States also may choose to cover additional “state expansion” enrollees and optional benefits with federal Medicaid matching funds. The federal core eligibility standards have expanded incrementally over time, mostly for children and pregnant women, as the Medicaid program separated from welfare. Moreover, many states have taken up options…
With the assistance of the First Nations Development Institute, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation commissioned several studies of critical issues in Native-American health care. These studies examined the trends shaping the future of Native-American health care; the existing health systems and planning capacity in the Native-American health care system; the changes occurring in the IHS; the role of Medicaid in Native-American health care; the attitudes and preferences of Native American health care consumers; and…
Impact of Potential Changes to ERISA: Litigation and Appeal Experience of CalPERS, Other Large Public Employers and a Large California Health Plan June 1998 By Coopers & Lybrand L.L.P.Sandra Hunt, M.P.A.John Saari, M.A.A.A.Kelly Traw, J.D. Background The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) currently preempts state law related to the wrongful denial or delay of health benefits to the extent that such laws relate to a health benefit plan sponsored by a private employer. This…
© 2026 KFF