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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 report profiles the uninsured in Texas, their access to care and coverage, and how the ACA could impact them. It compares the circumstances that the uninsured in Texas encounter to those that the insured encounter. This report relies upon the Kaiser Survey of Low-Income Americans and the ACA.
Among NHPI people, there is significant variation in key factors that influence health, including health coverage, income, and homeownership, with Marshallese people faring the worst across all examined measures. Data gaps prevent the ability to fully identify and understand health disparities for NHPI people. Among available data, NHPI people fare worse than White people for the majority of measures.
Between 1999 and 2023, the number of heat-related deaths in the U.S. increased by 117%. KFF analysis of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that American Indian or Alaska Native and Black people are at higher risk of experiencing a heat-related death compared to their White counterparts. Estimates suggest that heat events in the U.S result in approximately $1 billion in excess health care costs each year. If left unaddressed, climate…
As states and communities gear up to provide outreach and enrollment assistance under the ACA, the enrollment assistance experience of health centers in Massachusetts, where a major expansion of health coverage was implemented six years ago, offers valuable lessons that can help to inform current and emerging efforts by health centers and other community-based organizations to reach and enroll millions of low-income, uninsured Americans in health insurance.
Majority-say-they-dont-understand-how-ACA-will-impact-them-polling Download Source Kaiser Family Foundation Health Tracking Poll (conducted March 5-10, 2013)
Based on data from Kaiser's Second Post-Katrina Survey, this Survey Brief profiles low-income adults in New Orleans in 2008, examining their demographics, personal recovery from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, worries and concerns, and financial and health care challenges. It finds that low-income adults in New Orleans are more likely than other adults in the city to still be dealing with recovery from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and facing financial and health care challenges.…
This paper quantifies the impacts on coverage and cost of expanding Medicaid to cover more of the low-income uninsured, including adults, at various income levels and with improved participation rates. The analysis models two primary options to expand Medicaid (250% FPL for children, 100% FPL for adults; 300% FPL for children, 150% for adults) as well as the same options with no change for children. Report (.pdf)
This report draws on interviews and focus groups in four communities to examine at the grassroots levels the experiences of families, employers, safety-net providers and community organizations in four U.S. communities hard hit by the recession. The communities are Beloit, Wisc.; Tampa-St. Petersburg, Fla.; Long Island, N.Y.; and Sonoma, Calif. The report explores the financial and personal struggles of families who have suffered economic reversals and lost health coverage, forcing many to juggle bills and…
On May 5, 2009, the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance held a roundtable discussion on health-care coverage issues as part of its health reform efforts. Diane Rowland, the Foundation's Executive Vice President and Executive Director of the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, and Gary Claxton, Foundation Vice President and Director of the Health Care Marketplace Project, participated in the discussion and prepared written testimony at the committee's request. Testimony of Diane Rowland (.pdf)…
This policy brief examines the structure and experience of Community Care of North Carolina, an enhanced medical home model of care that North Carolina began implementing in 1998 as part of its Medicaid program. Evaluations of the initiative, which includes a heavy emphasis on care coordination, disease and care management and quality improvement, suggest that it has resulted in both improved care and cost savings. The program provides important lessons for broader health reform efforts…
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