Filling the need for trusted information on national health issues
In roughly 1 of every 6 emergency room visits and inpatient hospital stays in 2017, patients came home with at least one out-of-network medical bill, a new KFF analysis finds. More specifically, 18 percent of all emergency visits and 16 percent of in-network hospital stays had at least one out-of-network…
This analysis examines how often patients get hit with surprise medical bills, what circumstances tend to give rise to them and what proposals are being considered to protect consumers from this problem.
This data note summarizes our most recent polling on the public’s experiences with and worries about health care costs, and it highlights where Americans place costs on their list of health care issues for the government to address and for political candidates to discuss.
In this Axios column, Drew Altman shows that employer coverage for lower wage workers is much worse than ACA marketplace coverage for similar populations. It’s a bigger problem we need to talk about more, he says.
A new KFF/Los Angeles Times survey of Americans with employer health benefits finds that although most are largely satisfied with their employer plan, many report financial challenges related to their health care costs, particularly among those facing high deductibles or suffering from chronic health conditions. The survey captures the experiences…
This KFF/LA Times survey explores the attitudes and experiences of adults with employer-sponsored health insurance (ESI), including views of their health plans and affordability challenges related to premiums, deductibles, and unexpected medical bills. The survey takes a special look at those in high deductible plans (including those paired with a health savings account or HSA), those with chronic health conditions, and those with lower incomes. It also examines factors related to health plan decision-making and cost-conscious health care shopping behaviors, as well as overall views of the U.S. health care system.
This analysis for the Peterson-Kaiser Health System Tracker uses information from the Current Population Survey to look at the average amounts and the shares of family income people in working families with employer-based coverage pay out-of-pocket toward their premiums and direct payments for medical care. It finds that lower income families spend a greater share of their income on health costs than those with higher incomes, and that health status of family members is associated with higher out-of-pocket expenses.
In this Axios column, Drew Altman shows that employer coverage for lower wage workers is much worse than ACA marketplace coverage for similar populations. It’s a bigger problem we need to talk about more, he says.
A new issue brief looks at long-term trends in employer-based health insurance coverage, and finds that although the share of nonelderly Americans with employer-based health insurance has risen modestly in recent years, the long-term trend still shows a decline. If coverage rates had stayed at the 1999 level (67.3%), almost 24…
This Drew Altman column in Axios reveals an uptick in the number of Americans with employer coverage, and discusses the implications for policy and politics.