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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.
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.
The recent election of former Vice President Joe Biden as well as the on-going effects of the coronavirus pandemic and related economic downturn are the key issues that will substantially shape Medicaid policy over the next year.
This data note presents key data points describing the current state of the Medicaid program as it affects women.
In 2020, Medicaid covered 16% of nonelderly adult women in the United States, but coverage rates were higher among certain groups.
Continuous enrollment in Medicaid and enhanced premium assistance have helped millions afford and maintain coverage, but those gains could be reversed as the public emergency ends and if the provisions like those in the Build Back Better Act fail to pass.
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.
President Biden’s January 28th executive order to reopen enrollment in the federal ACA Marketplace from February 15 through May 15, combined with $50 million in federal spending on outreach and education about ACA coverage options, has the potential to reach millions of people who were uninsured prior to or have lost coverage during the pandemic. As of 2019, there were 29 million non-elderly uninsured people, and the majority (57%) were eligible for financial assistance through the ACA Marketplaces (33%) or Medicaid (25%). KFF estimates indicate that nearly nine million uninsured people could be eligible for free or subsidized Marketplace coverage during the new enrollment period. Importantly, these actions to facilitate enrollment in ACA Marketplace coverage will also likely lead eligible low-income people to enroll in Medicaid coverage.
New analysis shows that, in 2019, the number of uninsured continued to increase for the third year in a row. Much of the coverage loss between 2018 and 2019 was among Hispanic people, and these data point to significant increased barriers to health care for Hispanic people.
Surprisingly, in comparison to the nearly 9% drop in employment from March to June, early data suggests that employers had kept coverage rates remarkably steady, at least through mid-summer. We find that enrollment in the fully-insured group market dropped by just 1.3% from the end of March through the end of June.
This brief describes federal citizenship and immigration status eligibility and eligibility verification requirements for Medicaid. Eligibility for federally-funded coverage under Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program is limited to U.S. citizens and certain lawfully present immigrants.
In a commentary on KFF’s 27th employer health benefits survey, President and CEO Dr. Drew Altman discusses the obstacles employers face trying to control their health care costs, and the reasons why they’ve never been meaningful supporters of government cost-containment efforts. He predicts that premium increases expected next year could lead to a new wave of higher deductibles and other forms of cost sharing for the 155 million Americans who rely on employer coverage. Read the column here.
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