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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 issue brief provides an overview of the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit market for 2022, with a primary focus on stand-alone drug plans. It includes national and state-level data on plan availability, premiums, benefit design, cost sharing, information about premium-free plans for low-income beneficiaries, and information about the national Part D drug plans available in 2022.
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.”
While majorities tend to support expanding Medicaid in non-expansion states and keeping Medicaid funding as is, differences arise in comparing the opinions of Medicaid enrollees and the general public.
Disparities in health and health care for people of color and underserved groups are longstanding challenges. This brief provides an introduction to what health and health care disparities are, why it is important to address disparities, the status of disparities today, recent federal actions to address disparities, and key issues related to addressing disparities looking ahead.
Using findings from the 2014 Kaiser Survey of Low-Income Americans and the ACA, this report focuses on the low- and middle-income newly insured in 2014, comparing them to the previously insured and they uninsured. It examines the compositions of these groups, as well as their access to care, financial security, and opinions on their coverage.
This issue brief provides an overview of the Medicare Part D stand-alone prescription drug plan options available in 2015 and key changes from prior years. The analysis examines Part D plan availability, premiums, benefit design features, and low income subsidy plan availability.
Medicaid is the nation’s main public health insurance program for people with low incomes, and it is the single largest source of health coverage in the U.S., covering nearly 70 million Americans. Medicaid also finances 16% of total personal health spending in the nation. States design and administer their own Medicaid programs within federal requirements, and states and the federal government finance the program jointly. As a major payer, Medicaid is a core source of financing for safety-net hospitals and health centers that serve low-income communities, including many of the uninsured. It is also the main source of coverage and financing for both nursing home and community-based long-term care.
Policymakers are currently considering proposals that would fundamentally change the structure and financing of Medicaid, and potentially affect 11 million people on Medicare. This brief discusses the potential implications of Medicaid per capita cap or block grant proposals for the 11 million low-income seniors and people with disabilities on Medicare. It also describes how the per capita cap model proposed in the American Health Care Act could potentially affect low-income people on Medicare who receive assistance from Medicaid.
The Kaiser Health Security Watch uses Kaiser Health Tracking Poll data to measure the public's health care-related problems and worries, including problems paying medical bills, skipping or delaying health care due to cost, and worrying about their future ability to pay for care and keep insurance.
Adults ages 19 to 29 have the highest uninsured rate of any age group in the United States. The 13.7 million uninsured people in this age group comprise nearly a third of the overall uninsured population.
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