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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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In this column for The Wall Street Journal's Think Tank, Drew Altman explores the data behind public concern about prescription drug costs and highlights that the people most in need are the most burdened by the problem.
This Visualizing Health Policy infographic with JAMA spotlights national spending on prescription drugs and the public’s views on pharmaceutical prices.
A new KFF analysis examines how new federal rules on price transparency for health services may affect patient decision-making and market pricing. As of January 1, 2021, the United States Department of Health and Human Services requires that hospitals publish payer-negotiated rates for common services on their websites. A second set of rules, which requires insurers to provide rate and cost-sharing estimates for common services, is scheduled to go into effect in 2023. While the…
In his latest column for The Wall Street Journal's Think Tank, Drew Altman discusses a new Blue Cross Blue Shield Association report on “extreme price variation” in health care services and the limits of consumer information as a solution to the problem. All previous columns by Drew Altman are available online.
This analysis examines the potential costs for COVID-19 testing that some consumers may face once the COVID-19 public health emergency ends on May 11, 2023., depending on whether they have insurance and how their insurance covers testing.
After the public health emergency ends on May 11, private health plans will no longer be required to cover the full cost of COVID-19 tests ordered or administered by a clinician or to reimburse consumers for at-home rapid tests. To estimate what consumers might have to pay for tests, KFF’s new analysis draws on claims data showing what private insurers have paid for different types of COVID-19 tests, as well as hospitals’ published “self-pay” prices…
This analysis finds that privately insured adults who were treated for depression and/or anxiety in 2021 spent almost twice as much on annual out-of-pocket costs compared to enrollees who were not treated for a mental health diagnosis.
This analysis examines transparency data currently shared by hospitals to comply with federal law and finds that they are messy, inconsistent and confusing, making it challenging if not impossible for patients or researchers to use them to compare prices. Many of these shortcomings stem from a lack of specificity in the requirements for what hospitals must report.
Three experts joined Larry Levitt, executive vice president for health policy at KFF, for a discussion about the latest developments in prescription drug pricing and what they mean for drug manufacturers, patients and public and private health insurance programs.
Consumers who buy brand-name prescription drugs without an available generic or biosimilar at the prices available through the new TrumpRx website are about as likely to pay more as pay less for those drugs relative to the publicly listed prices available in other comparatively wealthy countries, a new KFF analysis finds. The Trump administration has promoted the TrumpRx website as a way for consumers to get the lowest prices for prescription medications in the world, drawing on…
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