Medicaid and Medicare at 50: Trends and Challenges
Medicaid and Medicare at 50 – Trends and Challenges Download View JAMA infographic…
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.
Medicaid and Medicare at 50 – Trends and Challenges Download View JAMA infographic…
This survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation and California Health Care Foundation gauges California residents’ views on health care priorities facing the state’s new governor and legislature, including health care affordability, access to care, mental health and substance use treatment, and provider shortages. It also highlights Californians’ experiences in the health care system, as well as views on the Affordable Care Act, Covered California, Medi-Cal, and proposals to advance a single-payer health insurance system in the state.
California has long been a leader in tackling climate change. However, as recent events have shown, despite its progressive climate policies, the Golden State is still very vulnerable to the effects of climate change. One key effect of climate change is its impact on health.
While a large share of voters are already firm about how they plan to vote in the 2020 presidential election, three in 10 say they have not made their minds up. This analysis from KFF, in collaboration with the Cook Political Report, examines the demographics of these swing voters and the policy issues that could lead them to vote for either President Trump or the Democratic nominee.
This infographic provides data on the current status of health and health care for Hispanics, including measures of their health coverage, health access and use, and health outcomes.
This brief was prepared with the Rockefeller Institute of Government, the public policy research arm of the State University of New York. It is designed to provide some insight into the underlying economic and fiscal conditions in expansion and non-expansion states leading up to 2014 by looking at the typical (i.e. median) state for each group. This analysis will provide a framework against which to measure the impact of expansion decisions going forward. The sections focus on: demographics, tax capacity and revenue, state budgets and employment.
This fact sheet provides an overview of population health, health coverage, and the health care delivery system in California in the era of health reform.
This infographic provides data on the current status of health and health care for Blacks, including measures of their health coverage, health access and use, and health outcomes.
In partnership with The Washington Post, the Kaiser Family Foundation conducted the Survey of Rural America to gauge the views and experiences of people living in small towns and rural areas across the United States, and how they are similar or different from those in urban and suburban settings. This brief explores where health care fits in rural residents' political views, including attitudes toward Republican plans to repeal and replace the ACA as well as views of Medicaid. It also examines how rural Americans' health care experiences compare with their urban and suburban counterparts.
This report uses the most current data available to analyze Medicare per beneficiary spending, by county, in 2013; the growth in Medicare per beneficiary spending between 2007 and 2013, by county; and the extent to which geographic variation in Medicare per beneficiary spending has increased or decreased over time. The analysis finds that beneficiaries living in counties with relatively high Medicare per beneficiary spending tend to be sicker and poorer than beneficiaries living in lower-spending counties and that the gap between high and low-spending counties narrows but does not close after adjustments are made for differences in prices and beneficiaries’ health status. The analysis also shows that the amount of variation between the highest- and lowest-spending counties appears to have narrowed in recent years, raising questions as to whether these changes are due to specific shifts in payment policy. An interactive U.S. map showing county-level Medicare spending is also available.
© 2026 KFF