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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.
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To document the affordability challenges posed by out-of-pocket health care costs for people with Medicare, this brief analyzes out-of-pocket health care costs as a share of Social Security income and total income, including other sources of income in addition to Social Security.
KFF’s Survey of Medicaid Financial Eligibility for Older Adults & People with Disabilities, conducted in March 2025 by KFF and Watts Health Policy Consulting, provides a baseline of Medicaid eligibility as states return to normal operations after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic and ahead of potential changes to the Medicaid program.
This brief provides an overview of the financial assistance provided under the ACA for people purchasing coverage on their own through health insurance Marketplaces (also called exchanges).
In his latest column, KFF President and CEO Drew Altman reviews an evaluation of a “guaranteed income” (GI) randomized trial in Cambridge, MA and writes about the potential of GI strategies to reduce poverty and its effects. When it comes to influencing the social determinants of health, he argues, “income strategies” deployed outside of health care, such as GI, deserve as much attention from health care people as “service strategies.”
To provide context for understanding the financial needs and well-being of older adults, this brief analyzes the latest data on poverty rates among the 58 million non-institutionalized adults ages 65 and older in the U.S overall, based on both the official poverty measure and the Supplemental Poverty Measure.
In his new column, KFF President and CEO Drew Altman discusses the pros and cons of labeling socio-economic problems as health issues.
This brief examines 10 key facts about women with Medicare and presents new statistics on the health, economic and functional status of women with Medicare.
A new KFF analysis shows that most Medicare beneficiaries live on relatively low incomes and have modest financial resources for retirement – posing a risk to their economic well-being, particularly if they were to have a major, unanticipated expense, such as a need for long-term nursing home care.
This brief examines the income, assets, and home equity of Medicare beneficiaries, overall and by age, race and ethnicity, and gender, using data derived from the Dynamic Simulation of Income Model (DYNASIM) for 2023. The analysis highlights that most Medicare beneficiaries live on relatively low incomes and have modest financial resources to draw upon in retirement if they need to cover costly medical care or long-term services and supports, with notable disparities by age, race and ethnicity, and gender.
This analysis of per capita income and assets among older adults in 2019 shows that differences in median per capita income among White, Black, and Hispanic adults ages 65 and older are narrower when comparing people with similar levels of education, although among college graduates, the gap in income continues to be wide between Hispanic and White seniors. The gaps in savings and home equity remain wide, and are particularly striking among seniors with less than a high school education. The patterns are similar for men and women, as well as across different age groups of older adults.
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