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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.
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.
In his latest column, KFF President and CEO Drew Altman discusses the difficulties of navigating the misinformation minefield, including the ways in which the news media can amplify or confront misinformation.
Most Seriously Ill Seniors Struggle with Cognitive and Mental Health Challenges; Nearly Half Reportedly Have Problems Understanding Drug and Medical Instructions Seniors with serious illness and their families are more likely to feel their wishes for medical care are being followed when they have written them down, finds a new Kaiser Family Foundation survey on…
This infographic provides a snapshot of Medicare and end-of-life care in California.
Medicare and End-of-Life Care_JAMA 110116 Download View the JAMA Infographic…
In partnership with The Economist, the Kaiser Family Foundation conducted a cross-country survey of adults in Japan, Italy, the United States, and Brazil about people’s views and experiences related to aging and end-of-life medical care. This report summarizes the overall survey results with comparisons across the four countries. Topics covered in the survey include ratings of the health care system, personal preferences, conversations and planning related to end-of-life wishes, and experiences with loved ones’ death.
In his latest column for The Wall Street Journal's Think Tank, Drew Altman discusses the implications of a Kaiser finding: per capita Medicare spending peaks at age 96, and the main reason is not end-of-life care. All previous columns by Drew Altman are available online.
As the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services prepares to finalize a plan to pay physicians for discussing end-of-life treatment options with Medicare patients, this month’s Kaiser Health Tracking Poll finds that about 8 in 10 of the public favors Medicare and private insurance covering such discussions and about 9 in 10 say doctors should have these discussions with their patients. However, relatively few (17 percent) say they’ve had such discussions with a doctor or other health care provider, while half of the public says they would want to have such a discussion. Overall, opinion of the health care law has remained divided with similar shares reporting favorable views (41 percent) and unfavorable views (45 percent), with opinion starkly divided by party. The Kaiser Health Policy News Index also finds that the 2016 presidential election is the most widely followed news story included in this month’s Index, placing far ahead of health policy news stories.
Medicare plays an integral role in end-of-life care, an issue that is emotionally-charged and easily politicized. About three-quarters of the 2.5 million Americans who die each year are ages 65 and older, and covered by Medicare at the time of their death, yet policy issues related to Medicare and end-of-life care are often poorly understood.
This data note provides a snapshot of Medicare beneficiaries who died in 2014 and their Medicare spending at the end of life. It examines Medicare per capita spending trends over time since 2000 and in 2014, both overall and by type of service, for beneficiaries in traditional Medicare who died in a given year compared to those who survived the year.
About eight of 10 of the 2.6 million people who died in the US in 2014 were people on Medicare, making Medicare the largest insurer of health care provided during the last year of life. These Frequently Asked Questions explain Medicare’s role in or coverage of end-of-life care, advance care planning, advance directives, and hospice care. They also provide information on Medicare spending on end-of-life care, changes to the physician fee schedule, and how related issues arose prior to the passage of the Affordable Care Act.
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