Decoding the HHS Reorganization
In his latest column, KFF President and CEO Drew Altman examines the implications of Secretary Kennedy’s reorganization of HHS and why it’s a sharp break from past efforts to reorganize the department.
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Why Most States Will Not Replace Federal Medicaid Cuts
From Drew AltmanIn his latest Beyond the Data column, KFF’s President and CEO Drew Altman discusses how difficult it will be for states to replace lost federal Medicaid funding should Congress make significant cuts.
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As Governors Meet in D.C., Possible Federal Medicaid Cuts Loom as Big State Funding Issue
Quick TakeIn the face of reduced federal funding for Medicaid, states could be left with difficult choices – raise revenue or cut spending. Cuts to Medicaid could mean eliminating coverage for children, parents, working adults or those who might need long term care; limiting benefits; or cutting rates for plans or providers.
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The Two Big Decisions That Will Drive Health Policy
From Drew AltmanKFF’s president and CEO Drew Altman writes in a new column about the factors driving the biggest health policy decisions now—how to pay for tax cuts and whether President Trump wants another big fight about health care.
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Making Sense of Medicaid Work Requirements
From Drew AltmanIn this column, KFF President and CEO Drew Altman examines the data and history around adding work requirements to Medicaid and why the administrative burdens it imposes may offset any savings even for states that ideologically favor such an approach.
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What an Income Cap Could Mean for ACA Enrollees and the Federal Budget
Quick TakeSome members of Congress are considering an income cap on the ACA enhanced premium tax credits to lower federal costs. Depending on the income cutoff chosen, a cap may have little effect on the federal budget and a big effect on some households’ budgets, particularly for older enrollees.
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What to Make of the $50 Billion Rural Hospital Grants Program
From Drew AltmanIn his latest Beyond the Data column, KFF President and CEO Dr. Drew Altman examines the controversial rural hospital grant program, noting “Will the new $50 billion rural hospital grant program in the big Republican tax and spending law just amount to a bunch of ribbon cutting and big check ceremonies, or will it help rural hospitals offset coming Medicaid cuts, help them in general, or all of the above?”
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CMS Marketplace Rule’s Sunset Provisions Could Help Congress Find Budget Reconciliation Savings
Quick TakeA CMS rule, once finalized, is generally intended to exist permanently or until it is repealed.... This temporary implementation may preserve the potential for the reconciliation bill to generate official savings through changes to ACA marketplaces in later years (2027–2034) if enacted.
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Clues From Polling About How Opinion Might Change If We Had More Informed Health Policy Debate?
From Drew AltmanIn a new column, Dr. Drew Altman, KFF’s President and CEO, discusses the limits of polling on policy, and what we have learned over more than 30 years of polling about how giving people more information and arraying tradeoffs can change opinion, including on the health policy changes and funding cuts in the current reconciliation bill.
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Making the Marketplaces Great Again?
From Drew AltmanIn his latest column, President and CEO Drew Altman discusses how, with nearly half, or about 10 million MAGA supporters and Republicans receiving coverage through the ACA Marketplaces, the policy changes and cuts being considered by Republicans to the Marketplaces will directly affect their own voters. Altman writes: "Republicans are no longer interested in repealing the ACA but seem comfortable shrinking it significantly if they can, so long as they don’t touch protections for pre-existing conditions, which is now a political third rail."