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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 brief examines family budgets of Medicaid enrollees, how health care costs fit into these budgets, and views on how potential changes to health care could affect them based on 21 interviews with Medicaid enrollees in five cities.
Medicare provides significant health and financial protections to more than 60 million Americans, but there are gaps in coverage and high cost-sharing requirements that can make health care difficult to afford. This report analyzes several policy options that could help make health care more affordable for people covered by Medicare, especially beneficiaries with relatively low incomes: adding an out-of-pocket limit to traditional Medicare, adding a hard out-of-pocket cap to Part D, expanding financial assistance through the Medicare Savings Programs, and expanding financial assistance through the Part D low-income subsidy program.
This Health Policy 101 chapter examines the share of the United States population who are uninsured, highlighting their demographics and the challenges they face because of the lack of coverage. Economic conditions, federal and state policy decisions, and major health crises like the COVID-19 pandemic influence the uninsured rate. While implementation of the Affordable Care Act, namely the expansion of Medicaid and availability of subsidized Marketplace coverage, led to a drop in the share of people who are uninsured, disparities in coverage persist.
Adults of color, noncitizens, and adults with lower educational attainment and incomes are disproportionately employed in occupations with increased climate-related health risks. Moreover, workers in occupations with increased climate-related health risks are more likely to be uninsured, contributing to challenges accessing health care.
Lower-income adults with employer coverage are more likely than their higher-income peers to report negative outcomes due to problems using their insurance, a new KFF analysis shows.
This analysis examines the experiences of lower income adults with their employer sponsored insurance and finds they were more likely to self-report problems with affordability, enrollment, and network adequacy, and to experience negative health consequences as a result of insurance problems, compared to their higher income peers.
On September 21, 2023, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized a rule that is intended to help low-income Medicare beneficiaries gain access to Medicaid coverage of Medicare premiums and often, cost sharing, through the Medicare Savings Programs.
Changes related to Medicaid could have major consequences for health coverage of women with low incomes as well as pregnancy, postpartum and other reproductive health care for women. Here are the top five things to know about women and Medicaid ahead of the election.
New poverty data show the supplemental poverty rate for children remains more than double what it was in 2021.
This report examines the ongoing challenges and experiences of people who have been previously incarcerated. Results from KFF's Racism, Discrimination, and Health survey show that adults with prior incarceration have significant health needs, are socially isolated, and have limited access to health care.
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