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.
Patients with certain conditions appear to be at higher risk for receiving surprise bills. They should be aware of new federal protections against surprise bills and know how to seek out help if they have improperly received one.
In this new video, KFF Senior Fellow Karen Pollitz explains why surprise bills have been such a major problem for patients, the new federal ban on the practice, and how patients can get help if they received a surprise bill.
This updated analysis for the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker estimates that the preventable costs of treating unvaccinated patients in hospitals total $13.8 billion during the six-month period from June through November when the delta variant led to a surge in admissions.
This brief describes the characteristics of fully vaccinated hospitalized patients who have COVID-19 breakthrough infections, in comparison to people who are not fully vaccinated and hospitalized with COVID-19.
“Breakthrough” hospitalizations involving COVID-19 among people who are fully vaccinated against the disease most often affected older adults and people with other chronic health conditions, finds a new analysis of hospital data from June through September by KFF and Epic Research. More than two-thirds (69%) of breakthrough COVID-19 hospitalizations occurred among people ages 65 and older, who are more likely than younger age groups to have gotten vaccinated. A fifth (21%) of breakthrough hospitalizations occurred…
Unlike past recessions, the health sector saw a big drop in employment in early 2020 similar to other sectors as the COVID-19 pandemic shut down much of the nation’s economy and remains below expected employment levels through November 2021, a new KFF chart collection shows. The chart collection takes a deep dive into the Bureau of Labor Statistics data to analyze how jobs and wages in the industry shrank and recovered compared to other sectors.…
The “No Surprises Act,” which establishes new federal protections against most surprise out-of-network medical bills when a patient receives out-of-network services during an emergency visit or from a provider at an in-network hospital without advance notice, will take effect next month. A new KFF brief outlines what to expect in 2022.
KFF’s Kaiser Health News (KHN) and Guardian US have won the National Press Club’s top award for online journalism for their “Lost on the Frontline” investigation. The year-long project documented the lives of more than 3,600 health care workers in the U.S. who died after contracting covid-19 on the job. The Press Club’s Joan M. Friedenberg Online Journalism Award recognizes “the best journalism that uses online technology to provide a more compelling report than a…
Over the 10-year lifetime of a Medicare program aimed at reducing hospital readmissions, 93% of eligible hospitals have been penalized at least once. Hospital readmissions have become less frequent, and most experts attribute that partly to the financial threat of the penalties, though other factors likely contributed to the improvements.
In this commentary for Barron's, Cynthia Cox explores the impact to the American public as the U.S. health insurance system adjusts to the COVID-19 pandemic. She uses the experience of the past year and a half to raise questions about broader issues of fairness in the distribution of health care costs in the country.
© 2026 KFF