Filling the need for trusted information on national health issues
The Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker provides clear, up-to-date information on trends, drivers and issues that impact the performance of the system. It also illustrates how the U.S. is performing relative to other countries and how different parts of the system are performing relative to one another. A partnership of the Peterson Center on Healthcare and the KFF, the Tracker’s work goal places a heavy emphasis on data and evidence, addressing key questions through collections of charts, which provide data with additional context and synthesis of the latest research and developments. The Tracker also provide regular insight briefs for a more in-depth look at topical questions.
This analysis uses government data to examine the burden of medical debt, including variations based on age, race and ethnicity, and health status . It estimates 9% of adults – or roughly 23 million people -owe medical debt, including 11 million who owe more than $2,000.
The Health Spending Explorer on the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker helps users examine five decades worth of numbers documenting expenditures by federal and local governments, private insurers, and individuals on 15 categories of health services, including hospitals, physician and clinic care, and prescription drugs.
Prices for medical services typically rise more quickly than the broader economy, but the reverse has been true recently as general inflation rose rapidly. The recent trend reflects the unusually high inflation affecting other parts of the economy, which could bleed over to affect health care costs at some point.
This updated analysis estimates that nationally at least 234,000 deaths from COVID-19 between June 2021 and March 2022 could have been prevented with a primary series of vaccinations. These vaccine-preventable deaths represent 60% of all adult COVID-19 deaths since June 2021, when vaccines first became widely available.
This analysis of insurance claims data finds that Congressional proposals to set a $35 per month cap on what people pay out of pocket for insulin would provide financial relief to at least 1 out of 5 insulin users with different types of private health insurance.
This updated analysis examines COVID-19’s effect on mortality rates, and estimates that in January 2022, COVID-19 was number two on the list of leading causes of death in the U.S.
This analysis uses government data to examine the burden of medical debt, including variations based on age, race and ethnicity, and health status . It estimates 9% of adults – or roughly 23 million people -owe medical debt, including 11 million who owe more than $2,000.
This analysis looks at the share of working families’ income that is spent on premiums, deductibles and other cost-sharing for employer-sponsored care. It shows that lower-income families spend a greater share of their income on health costs than those with higher incomes.
This analysis assesses whether people can afford to pay cost-sharing amounts common with private insurance plans. It finds that large shares of non-elderly households do not have enough liquid assets to meet typical plan cost-sharing amounts.
Telehealth use skyrocketed during the early months of the pandemic. While it has since decreased somewhat from that high, it still represents a much more substantial share of health care than before COVID, this KFF-Epic Research analysis finds.
