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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.
This chart pack summarizes KFF polling data on public opinion on Medicare-for-all and other national health plan proposals. The latest update finds that two-thirds of the public supports Medicare-for-all, while support changes drastically as respondents hear arguments from proponents and critics.
This Health Policy 101 chapter explores Medicare, a federal health insurance program covering more than 68 million people, established in 1965 for people age 65 or older and later expanded to cover people under age 65 with long-term disabilities. In addition to detailing Medicare eligibility, coverage, and spending, the chapter examines the increased role of private plans in providing benefits and the financing challenges posed by increasing health care costs and an aging population.
This policy watch examines recent and anticipated managed care rate setting challenges and the potential implications of MCO exits.
The global health architecture includes a number of diverse international organizations with different mandates, governance models, financing structures, and operational approaches. This KFF resource looks across a range of variables to provide a descriptive mapping of 14 key global health and related international institutions. It is intended to inform discussions about synergies and coordination, duplication, comparative advantage, shared challenges, and architectural reform.
At the close of every episode, Chip asks his guests the same question: ‘What keeps you up at night?’ In this highlights episode, we share intriguing responses on AI’s role in health care. From deepfakes and misinformation to bias and the risk of losing the human connection at the heart of care, these highlights capture some of the top issues today.
This issue brief uses data from KFF’s 2025-2026 survey of Medicaid directors and from a proposed rule on provider taxes to describe states’ current provider taxes, explore how rules governing provider taxes are changing because of the 2025 reconciliation law and the regulations implementing that law, and summarizes which changes may affect each state.
An estimated $60 billion in federal Medicaid spending in 37 states (including the District of Columbia) would likely exceed new federal limits on state directed payments for hospital services once fully implemented, a new KFF analysis finds. States with the biggest potential reductions in Medicaid payments to hospitals include California, Illinois, Kentucky, Texas, North Carolina, Louisiana, Arizona and Michigan.
This analysis estimates the number of states impacted by and the amount of current federal spending on Medicaid state directed payments for hospital services that exceeds the new limits established by the 2025 reconciliation law when fully implemented.
If states do not provide coverage with state-only dollars and [gender-affirming] care cannot be financed in other ways, thousands of young people could be without a way to access what remains a recommended medical intervention.
The Medicare program will spend at least $13 billion on the Medicare Advantage quality bonus program in 2026, as 68% of Medicare Advantage enrollees are in a plan that qualifies for higher payments under the program.
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