The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.
KFF’s policy research provides facts and analysis on a wide range of policy issues and public programs.
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.
A new Kaiser Family Foundation analysis finds government agencies so far report spending approximately $1.9 billion in funding to respond to the Ebola outbreak internationally. The majority of this spending was by USAID (49%), followed by the Department of Defense (33%), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (18%). The U.S. government enacted $5.
In late September, the United Nations General Assembly will discuss and adopt a plan for international development for the next 15 years. This new plan, called the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), could have important implications for global health policy. On September 9, the Kaiser Family Foundation held an interactive web briefing exclusively for journalists to examine these key issues ahead of the United Nations General Assembly.
This brief presents key findings from a Kaiser Family Foundation review and analysis of the policy and financing landscape where U.S. humanitarian assistance and global health assistance meet. It also summarizes a July 2013 roundtable discussion convened by the Foundation focusing on opportunities, challenges, and potential next steps for more effective coordination between humanitarian assistance and global health programs.
Medicaid Provides Support for Providers and Services in the Health Care System Download Source CMS, Office of the Actuary, National Health Statistics Group, National Health Expenditure Accounts, 2013.
The Federal Government will Fund the Vast Majority of Medicaid Expansion Costs Download…
This report finds that funding for global malaria control and elimination activities has risen from US$871 million in 2005 to US$2.6 billion in 2013. However, total funding is significantly below US$5.1 billion, the goal set by the Global Malaria Action Plan, which is a framework endorsed by world leaders in 2008 to reach global malaria reduction targets.
Additionally, support for malaria research and development (R&D) activities in 2013 was estimated to be US$549 million, below the estimated annual need of US$750-900 million and the lowest level of funding since 2007, the first year of available data.
With Medicare and Medicaid turning 50 this year, this updated video provides a brief history of both programs, including: an examination of the health care, social and political landscape that gave rise to them, the significant ways each program has evolved over five decades, and the important roles they play in the U.S. health care system. The video includes archival footage, as well as commentary and perspective from policymakers, government officials and experts.
Expanded health insurance coverage through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is having a major impact on many of the nation’s hospitals through increases in the demand for care, increased patient revenues, and lower uncompensated care costs for the uninsured. This report examines the early experiences with the ACA by Ascension Health, the delivery subsidiary of the nation’s largest not-for-profit health system, Ascension. It finds that, overall, Ascension hospitals in Medicaid expansion states saw increased Medicaid discharges, increased Medicaid revenue, and decreased cost of care for the poor, while hospitals in non-expansion states saw a very small increase in Medicaid discharges, a decline in Medicaid revenue, and growth in cost of care to the poor.
This slideshow explains key elements of the Medicare program, which now provides health coverage to 55 million people — including 46 million people age 65 and older and another 9 million younger adults with permanent disabilities.
The Medicaid program, signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on July 30, 1965, will reach its 50th anniversary this year, a historic milestone. This report reflects on Medicaid’s accomplishments and challenges and considers the issues on the horizon that will influence the course of this major health coverage and financing program moving forward.
© 2026 KFF