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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.
On June 16, 2008, Kaiser Family Foundation Vice President Gary Claxton testified about state-based health reform efforts as part of the Senate Finance Committee's Preparing For Launch Health Reform Summit. In his prepared testimony, he examined the role of Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program, as well as the way various federal laws and policies may limit innovation at the state level. Testimony (.pdf)
Conservatives obviously don't like what they call "Obamacare" because they think it expands the role of government too much and spends too much money. But ironically, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) actually promotes -- though not explicitly -- something that has been a fundamental objective of conservatives in health care for years: high-deductible health plans with more "skin in the game." In a new study we just released, we commissioned three different actuarial consulting firms…
Beginning in 2014, the Affordable Care Act will expand Medicaid and create new health insurance exchanges that will significantly increase coverage options for citizens and lawfully present immigrants. This brief provides an overview of health coverage for immigrants today and their new coverage options under health reform. Fact Sheet (.pdf)
Medicare’s Role for Women This fact sheet highlights Medicare’s important role in providing women with health care coverage. It examines the demographic profile of women on Medicare, including their health and income status, the program’s benefits and cost-sharing requirements, and the prevalence of supplemental coverage to fill gaps in Medicare’s coverage. Fact Sheet (.pdf)
Roughly 3.4 million individuals work in food production industries, more than a third of them in animal production and processing where there have been several COVID-19 outbreaks, a new KFF analysis shows. Workers at meat and poultry plants face a higher risk of coronavirus exposure due to the close quarters of their workplaces. The majority of workers in food production – which also include crop production, seafood, and other food manufacturing-- are White and U.S.…
As unemployment skyrockets due to the COVID-19 pandemic, tens of millions of people are at risk of losing their job-based health insurance. However, the majority of people are eligible for other forms of health insurance coverage. Watch this two minute video to learn about the options: Medicaid, job-based coverage from a spouse or parent, ACA marketplace coverage, COBRA and short-term insurance plans.
Disparities in Women's Health Disparities in health and health care continue to burden women, particularly affecting women of color or those who are poor. To shed more light on the factors contributing to inequalities in health and access to care for women, the Kaiser Family Foundation provided support for the newest issue of the Journal of the American Medical Women's Association (JAMWA) Disparities in Women's Health. This special issue features an editorial by Surgeon General…
Community health centers served more than 32 million patients in medically underserved urban and rural areas in 2024. This brief reports on health center patients, services, and financing in 2024, using national data from the Uniform Data System (UDS).
In this brief on Medicaid issues to watch for 2026, KFF explores how state fiscal pressures are likely to converge with the implementation of the 2025 reconciliation law to affect Medicaid coverage, financing, and access to care over the next year, especially leading up to the midterm elections.
This brief examines efforts by a number of states to set up Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) within their Medicaid programs. An ACO is a provider-run organization in which participating providers are collectively responsible for the care of an enrolled population, and may share in any savings associated with improvements in the quality and efficiency of care. The structure of Medicaid ACO initiatives is influenced by individual states’ experience with managed care, other existing care delivery…
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