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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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As the COVID-19 pandemic grows, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other public health officials recommend that people who are sick should stay home. Benefits such as sick leave and family leave can help employees follow these guidelines; however, the U.S. does not have national standards on paid family or sick leave. The lack of a national policy means some employees are forced to take unpaid leave, or come to work when…
The number and share of people without insurance grew in 2024, increasing for the first time since 2019, according to KFF's analysis of data from the American Community Survey (ACS). This issue brief describes trends in health coverage in 2024, examines the characteristics of the uninsured population , and summarizes the access and financial implications of not having coverage.
Changes to Medicaid funding, eligibility and enrollment could impact hospital finances. These interactive 50-state maps show the number of hospital employees by state and how hospital employment ranks among industry subsectors. Hospitals employed 6.7 million people in 2023, and more than 100,000 people in each of 23 states.
To understand the impact of Medicaid work requirements included in the budget reconciliation bill being debated in Congress, KFF has undertaken two different analyses using different data sources. Using 2023 data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation, this analysis looks at the share of adults who work at least 80 hours per month, the reasons some do not, and how consistently individuals meet the requirement over a six-month period.
The AI revolution is already here — but what does it mean for patients, clinicians, and health care industry leaders? Eric Larsen, veteran health care strategist and longtime advisor to CEOs across the industry, joins host Chip Kahn for a discussion about why the U.S. health care industry is uniquely exposed to AI-driven disruption and the implications for patients, clinicians, and the health care workforce. Listen to Larsen's take on "the most consequential technology humanity’s…
The data is good enough, the technology is getting better, the computing is becoming more available, and the use cases are getting clearer—but is AI truly a revolutionary technological advancement yet for health care? With a 30-year perspective on what digital technology has done and failed to do in health care, Dr. John Halamka, President of the Mayo Clinic Platform, joins Chip in discussing whether AI is actually disruptive or another wave of incremental change.
Multiple studies find that the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion has increased coverage, with enrollment exceeding expectations in some states, while producing budget savings for states and reductions in uncompensated care costs for hospitals, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation review of 61 studies and policy reports. The literature review provides a useful reference on the effects of the ACA Medicaid expansion at a time when the future of the expansion – and the ACA more…
As additional states consider whether to implement the ACA Medicaid expansion, some have raised pursuing waiver authority to tie Medicaid eligibility for adults under the expansion to work requirements. This fact sheet profiles uninsured adults who could gain Medicaid coverage under the ACA by their relationship to the workforce and job-based coverage.
Unlike past recessions, the health sector saw a big drop in employment in early 2020 similar to other sectors as the COVID-19 pandemic shut down much of the nation’s economy and remains below expected employment levels through November 2021, a new KFF chart collection shows. The chart collection takes a deep dive into the Bureau of Labor Statistics data to analyze how jobs and wages in the industry shrank and recovered compared to other sectors.…
The surge in COVID-19 cases triggered by the omicron variant led to widespread work disruptions, with about 4 in 10 workers (42%) – including 6 in 10 of those with lower incomes – saying they had to miss work at least once in the past three months because of a COVID-19 illness, quarantine, or closure, a new KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor report shows. Among all workers, a quarter (26%) say they missed work because they…
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