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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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This Health Policy 101 chapter explores LGBTQ+ people’s identities and demographics, their experiences with health and health care, including the significant disparities, and the related federal and state health policy landscape.
As Marketplace Open Enrollment nears, policy changes could leave millions of people facing substantially higher premiums and coverage loss, which could lead more consumers to purchase less expensive and less comprehensive coverage through short-term health plans. KFF analyzes short-term health policies sold by nine large insurers in 36 states, examining premiums, cost sharing, covered benefits, and coverage limitations and comparing them to ACA Marketplace plans.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals often face challenges and barriers to accessing needed health services and, as a result, can experience worse health outcomes. These challenges can include stigma, discrimination, violence, and rejection by families and communities, as well as other barriers, such as inequality in the workplace and health insurance sectors, the provision of substandard care, and outright denial of care because of an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity. This issue brief examines population characteristics of the LGBT community and the impacts of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Supreme Court rulings and other policy changes related to same-sex marriage that can insurance coverage and access to health care services, and recent actions by the Trump Administration.
To understand more about how people view the issue of loneliness and social isolation, the Kaiser Family Foundation, in partnership with The Economist, conducted a cross-country survey of adults in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan. The survey included additional interviews with individuals who report always or often feeling lonely, left out, isolated or that they lack companionship to better understand the personal characteristics and life circumstances associated with these feelings, the reported causes of loneliness, and how people are coping. More than a fifth of adults in the United States and the United Kingdom as well as one in ten adults in Japan say they often or always feel lonely, feel that they lack companionship, feel left out, or feel isolated from others, and many of them say their loneliness has had a negative impact on various aspects of their life. About six in ten say there is a specific cause of their loneliness, and they are also more likely to report experiencing negative life events in the past two years, such as a negative change in financial status. Those reporting loneliness in each country report having fewer confidants than others and two-thirds or more say they have just a few or no relatives or friends living nearby who they can rely on for support. Many in the U.S. and U.K. view the increased use of technology as a major reason why people are lonely or socially isolated, whereas fewer people in Japan say the same. But, for those experiencing loneliness or social isolation personally, they are divided as to whether they think social media makes their feelings of loneliness better or worse.
The Kaiser Family Foundation/Episcopal Health Foundation Harvey Anniversary Survey examines the views, experiences, and long-term recovery needs of vulnerable Gulf Coast Texans who were affected by Hurricane Harvey. This survey – a follow-up to a survey conducted by the partners 3 months after the storm – measures residents’ challenges with housing, financial assistance, health care, and mental health, as well as views on priorities and preparedness moving forward. It finds many challenges are especially salient for affected residents who are Black, Hispanic, or have lower incomes, as well as those who experienced major home damage or remain displaced from their homes.
Community health centers are a key source of primary care in underserved areas. Their role will grow as coverage expands under the ACA. To sharpen understanding of the health center patient population, this brief compares them to the low-income population overall, using the Health Center Patient Survey and National Health Interview Survey. The pre-ACA profile of health center patients that emerges sets the stage for measuring change and highlights important implications of states’ Medicaid expansion decisions.
disparity, Disparities
Women with Medicaid and who are uninsured are more likely to suffer from chronic conditions Download Source Kaiser Family Foundation, Kaiser Women’s Health Survey, 2008…
A new KFF-Washington Post partnership survey provides a groundbreaking portrait of the diverse identities and experiences of transgender adults in the United States, including how they define themselves, childhood experiences, gender transitions, and the hostility and discrimination they face.
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