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.
No doubt it will take some time to sort out how elements of the debt deal (formally "The Budget Control Act of 2011") will all work. Delving into the details of how it affects subsidies in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to make insurance more affordable helps to illustrate how complex this business can be. Let's start with a short primer on the ACA subsidies. Starting in 2014 people buying insurance on their own in…
This month’s Kaiser Health Tracking Poll reveals little change in public opinion about the health reform law. Americans remain divided overall, with 42 percent having a favorable opinion of the law and 44 percent viewing it unfavorably. Three in ten continue to want to see the law expanded, while roughly one in five want it either kept as is (21%), repealed and replaced with a GOP alternative (19%), or repealed outright (19%). Americans continue to…
This July 22, 2013 briefing, Streamlining Cost Sharing in Medicare: The Impact on Beneficiaries, explored the impact on beneficiaries of recent proposals to combine the two main parts of Medicare.
Given the recent debate over raising the age of Medicare eligibility, it is useful to understand public opinion on the issue. This Data Note analyzes KFF's historic trends and gives a current snapshot of public opinion on the proposal, with a special focus on how views differ by age, and the partisan divide that pervades public opinion on healthcare. The analysis then investigates how different arguments sway views on raising the age of Medicare eligibility…
This January 2014 briefing, co-sponsored by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Alliance for Health Reform, examines what is known about the health and economic security of Medicare beneficiaries today, as well as how current and future beneficiaries may be affected by the leading proposals that aim to achieve Medicare savings.
Premium support is a general term used to describe an approach to reform Medicare that aims to reduce the growth in Medicare spending. These FAQs raise and discuss basic questions about the possible effects of a premium support system for Medicare beneficiaries, the federal budget, health care providers, and private health plans.
After much heated debate on the U.S. debt limit, the Budget Control Act of 2011 was passed on August 2, 2011, containing more than $900 billion in federal spending reductions over 10 years. The law also established the 12-person “super committee” charged with finding more than $1 trillion in additional savings. What exactly is called for in the law? What are the implications for health care programs, including Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP and the Patient Protection…
The Kaiser Family Foundation has issued a collection of analyses related to the Part D Medicare stand-alone drug plan options available to seniors for calendar year 2010. Each of these spotlights focuses on a key aspect of the drug plans that will be available to Medicare beneficiaries in 2010 and examine relevant trends since the Medicare drug benefit took effect in 2006. They were prepared by a team of researchers at Georgetown University, NORC and…
The Foundation, as part of The Washington Post/Kaiser Family Foundation/Harvard University partnership series, conducted a poll to examine the public's views on the government and its role. The Role of Government Survey is the 20th in a series of surveys dating back to 1995 that have been conducted as part of this partnership project. Toplines (.pdf) Read The Washington Post articles on the survey:Beyond the tea party: What Americans really think of governmentEnergized GOP can…
Well before we have any clarity on the impact of the election on health reform, the pundits are handicapping the prospects of efforts to make a serious dent in the national debt and deficit. Three national commissions are hammering out recommendations for reducing the debt and reining in entitlement spending, putting two giant health programs that serve the elderly, disabled and low-income Americans, Medicaid and Medicare, as well as Social Security, in the crosshairs of…
© 2026 KFF