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  • Preventable Costs of Unvaccinated COVID-19 Patients Rise Sharply in August as Hospitalizations Surge

    News Release

    A surge in COVID-19 hospitalizations among people who have not been vaccinated in August is adding billions of dollars in preventable costs to the nation’s health-care system, an updated KFF analysis finds. In August, the new analysis estimates that the preventable costs of treating unvaccinated patients in  hospitals total $3.7 billion, almost twice the estimates for June and July combined. The total preventable costs for those three months now stand at an estimated $5.7 billion.…

  • New Campaign from THE CONVERSATION / LA CONVERSACIÓN about Kids and the COVID Vaccines

    News Release

    August 25, 2021 – THE CONVERSATION / LA CONVERSACIÓN expands to address questions about the COVID-19 vaccines and children with new FAQ videos featuring pediatricians. This installment of the campaign is produced by KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation) under its Greater Than COVID public information response and is presented with the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). Vaccine safety, efficacy and potential side effects, as well as the need for vaccinations among children, are among issues highlighted…

  • Most private insurers are no longer waiving cost-sharing for COVID-19 treatment

    Issue Brief

    This analysis finds nearly three quarters of the largest health plans in each state are no longer waiving enrollees’ cost-sharing requirements for COVID-19 treatment as of August 2021. Insurers largely waived those costs early in the pandemic, before safe and effetive vaccines were available.

  • Early 2021 Data Show No Rebound in Health Care Utilization

    Issue Brief

    This analysis finds hospital admissions remained below expected levels in early 2021, suggesting much of the care people put off during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic may have been forgone altogether.

  • The Sleeper Health Cost Policy

    From Drew Altman

    In this Axios column, Drew Altman unpacks President Biden’s recent executive order on promoting competition, exploring its significance for new efforts to control health costs by addressing consolidation in the health care industry.

  • New Analysis Summarizes Recent Research on the Effects of ACA Medicaid Expansion, Providing Context for Renewed Expansion Debates in States

    News Release

    New federal financial incentives for Medicaid expansion and the increased reliance on Medicaid as a coverage safety net during the pandemic have renewed debate in the 12 states that have not adopted the Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act. A new KFF literature review provides context for these expansion debates by summarizing evidence from nearly 200 studies about the effects of Medicaid expansion that were published between February 2020 and March 2021. These studies…

  • KFF’s Kaiser Health News and Gray Television Partner to Examine the Drive Times and Roadblocks for Stroke Victims in Appalachia and the Mississippi Delta

    News Release

    KHN and Gray Television’s InvestigateTV team joined forces to dig into the underlying reasons why strokes are a deadlier threat across most counties in Appalachia and the Mississippi Delta, rural regions that are characterized by high rates of poverty, vulnerable elderly populations, a shortage of medical providers and an epidemic of local hospital closures. They found that large shares of the regions’ residents live more than 45 minutes from a hospital that is stroke-certified and…

  • COVID-19 Test Prices and Payment Policy

    Issue Brief

    This analysis examines list prices for COVID-19 testing at the largest hospitals in every state and finds they range widely from $20 to $850. Federal law now requires private insurers to cover COVID-19 tests at no cost to the patient and provides funding for people without health insurance.

  • Analysis: Hospital Price Transparency Data Lacks Standardization, Limiting Its Use to Insurers, Employers, and Consumers

    News Release

    In spite of a new price transparency rule that requires hospitals to publish the prices of common health services, comparing prices across hospitals remains challenging due to limited compliance with the law and a lack of standardization in the available data, a new KFF analysis finds. The federal rule, which went into effect on January 1, 2021, aims to lift the veil on how much health plans pay hospitals for health services. To be compliant,…