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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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In a new column, Dr. Drew Altman, KFF's President and CEO, examines the different counts of the number of people on Medicaid that are currently in use, which range from 69 to 83 million, and why it might matter. He also discusses other ways to assess the reach of the program: “possibly it’s useful to explain why there are different numbers out there about what seemingly is an all-time simple question: how many people are…
Medicaid is the main source of coverage for adults with opioid use disorder and among those receiving treatment services. Most adults with OUD in Medicaid are eligible through Medicaid expansion.
The 2025 reconciliation law reduced federal Medicaid spending by an estimated $911 billion from 2025 through 2034, some of which stems from new restrictions on Medicaid state directed payments (SDPs) for hospital and other health care services. This issue brief describes SDPs and forthcoming policy changes stemming from the 2025 reconciliation law and the proposed regulation to implement those requirements and make other changes.
Forty states and DC currently receive $93 billion in annual federal Medicaid spending through state directed payments (SDPs) and may be at risk due to forthcoming limits on these payments, according to new KFF estimates. Annual federal spending on SDPs is highest in California (an estimated $10.6 billion)—followed by Texas ($6.3 billion), North Carolina ($5.2 billion), and Illinois ($5.1 billion).
As some policymakers in Washington are pushing to reduce the federal deficit and debt, this brief provides a concise explanation of federal spending for domestic and global health programs and services, which could be part of any conversation about curbing federal spending. These FAQs answer basic questions about health spending and the federal budget and budget enforcement tools, including the debt limit and sequestration.
As policymakers in Washington discuss ways to curb the rising cost of prescription drugs, KFF has released a summary and analysis of proposals and recently finalized initiatives that affect Medicare prescription drug spending. Medicare, the federal health program that covers more than 60 million seniors and younger people with disabilities, accounts for 30 percent of the nation’s retail prescription drug spending. A Look at Recent Proposals to Control Drug Spending by Medicare and its Beneficiaries…
This budget analysis reviews U.S. funding for global health programs included in the fiscal year 2014 Budget Request released on April 10, 2013.
On Tuesday, February 21, the Kaiser Family Foundation held a live webcast to assess President Obama's fiscal year 2013 budget proposal and potential implications for global health. The webcast featured a panel of global health policy experts who analyzed the Administration's proposal and how it compares to current funding levels, what may happen as the budget winds its way through Congress, and the implications for the future of U.S. global health programs. Panelists: Ambassador Mark…
This primer provides basic information about global health and U.S. government programs that address global health. The first several sections provide an overview of the field of global health and describe current global health issues. The subsequent sections describe U.S. government support for global health, from the programs the government supports, to the organization of the U.S. response, the budgets and financing of U.S. global health programs, and the U.S. government’s relationship with multilateral institutions…
The latest data on U.S. health spending are now available on the Health Spending Explorer, an interactive tool that allows users to explore trends in health expenditures by federal and local governments, insurers, service providers, and individuals. The data, which span from 1960 to 2017, are based on the just-released national health spending report from the federal government. Users can build and download custom charts, with options to filter data by type of service and source…
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