The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.
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.
Toplines of selected findings of the March/April 2004 Kaiser Family Foundation Health Poll Report survey that underscores the need to educate seniors about the new Medicare prescription drug program. Survey Toplines (.pdf)
National Survey on Consumers' Experiences With Patient Safety and Quality Information This survey assesses Americans' perceptions about the quality of health care, their awareness and reported usage of information in making their health care choices, and their experiences with their health care providers five years after the Institute of Medicine's landmark report on medical errors. The Kaiser Family Foundation, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the Harvard School of Public Health collaborated on…
This document includes the complete toplines from a survey of the public's attitudes regarding the health care agenda for Bush's second term and the new Congress in 2005. It assesses the relative priority placed on health-care concerns by the American public and also provides insight into public opinion on key issues likely to face the new Congress, such as implementing the Medicare drug law, controlling health care costs, reducing the nation’s uninsured population and reforming…
New Survey Assesses Senior's Views of Medicare Drug Law Seniors are most likely to say they would turn to their doctor, pharmacist, or the Medicare program, for help in making decisions about the new Medicare drug benefit set to begin Jan. 1, 2006, according to new data from the Kaiser Health Poll Report tracking survey. The tracking survey also provides updated tracking data on seniors’ knowledge and views of the new Medicare law. Foundation President…
- Issue Paper This Issue Paper describes the discount card and low-income assistance programs and discusses their implications for low-income Medicare beneficiaries and state Medicaid programs. Issue Paper (.pdf)
This document includes the toplines from a comprehensive survey of people on Medicare and their attitudes toward the new Medicare drug law. The survey provides detailed insight in their perceptions and opinions about the law, the Medicare-approved drug-discount card program and the new Medicare drug benefit set to begin in January 2006. It also assesses views on the law’s implications for the 2004 elections. Survey Toplines (.pdf)
This report examines the formulary and cost management provisions of the final Medicare regulations implementing the new Medicare Part D drug benefit that was passed as part of the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003, and their implications for people with Medicare who enroll in new drug plans and their access to medications. It was prepared for the Foundation by Jack Hoadley, Ph.D., of the Health Policy Institute at Georgetown University. Issue Brief (.pdf)
Individuals with disabilities who are eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid must also shift to a Medicare prescription drug benefit in 2006. This report analyzes how younger dual eligibles in Kansas enrolled in work incentive programs differ than other Medicare enrollees in the types of drugs they use and how much drug spending they have to better assess the impact of the Medicare drug benefit on this population. Report (.pdf)
To better understand the private plans providing drug coverage to Medicare beneficiaries under the Part D benefit, the Kaiser Family Foundation has issued a series of data spotlights analyzing key elements of Medicare's private drug plans. Each spotlight focuses on a key aspect of the drug plans available to Medicare beneficiaries each year and examines relevant trends since the Medicare drug benefit took effect in 2006. Medicare Part D 2013 Data Spotlights Medicare Part D…
This Medicare Part D Data Spotlight focuses on the availability of drug plans for beneficiaries receiving the Part D low-income subsidy in 2009 and changes since 2006. For 2009, fewer than one in five plans qualify for automatic or facilitated enrollment of low-income subsidy beneficiaries, the lowest share since the inception of the Part D benefit. These plans have monthly premiums below a benchmark amount calculated for each region, enabling low-income subsidy beneficiaries to enroll…
© 2026 KFF