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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.
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KFF analysis found that over one-fifth of all U.S. COVID-19 deaths occurred in long-term care facilities despite but as of January 14th, 2024, only 38% of residents and 15% of staff were “up-to-date” with their COVID-19 vaccines, which the CDC defines as having received the updated Fall 2023 vaccine. Those rates are lower than uptake was for the 2022 vaccine.
This analysis uses government data to examine the burden of medical debt, including variations based on state, age, race and ethnicity, and health status. It estimates that people in the United States owe at least $220 billion in medical debt.
In September 2023, the National Institutes of Health designated people with disabilities as a population experiencing health disparities, which will help ensure that people with disabilities are represented in research funded by the National Institutes. Also in September of 2023, the Biden Administration proposed a new rule that would update the requirements for nondiscrimination on the basis of disability. Among other changes, the proposed rule would codify the Olmstead court decision, which requires people with…
As the 25th anniversary of Olmstead nears, more than one-in-10 working age adults have a disability and most do not receive public disability income. Over one-in-10 working-age adults reported having a disability in 2022. A disability is defined as having difficulty with hearing, vision, cognition, ambulation, self-care, or independent living, according to KFF's examination of data on people with disabilities from the American Community Survey. Fewer than a third of working-age adults with disabilities receive…
This analysis examines the characteristics of Medicaid enrollees who use Medicaid long-term services and supports (LTSS), how enrollees who use LTSS differ from those who do not use these services, and how enrollees who use different types of LTSS differ from each other.
In January 2014, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published a final rule that created new requirements for Medicaid home- and community-based services (HCBS) programs. This issue brief describes the settings rule, implementation of the rule across states and HCBS waivers, and what to watch as implementation continues.
This data note provides new information about waiting lists from KFF’s most recent survey of state Medicaid HCBS programs, including a discussion of why waiting lists are an incomplete measure of unmet need and why they are not necessarily comparable across states or over time.
In a new analysis of survey data from state Medicaid home care programs, KFF found that in most years since 2016, there have been nearly 700,000 people on waiting or interest lists for expanded home and community-based services (HCBS), with a total of 692,000 across 38 states in 2023 and waiting lists averaging three years. People with intellectual or developmental disabilities make up almost three-quarters of waiting lists, with seniors and adults with physical disabilities…
This brief analyzes data from the 2023 KFF Survey of Consumer Experiences with Health Insurance to get a current understanding of how Medicare is working for older adults and younger people with disabilities. The analysis shows that people with Medicare who are under 65 with disabilities experience more problems using their Medicare coverage, including access and cost-related problems, than beneficiaries who are 65 and older.
In response to long-standing workforce challenges in home- and community-based services, states have reported increasing Medicaid payment rates, providing more education and training or leveraging other strategies to recruit and retain workers.
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