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.
Health Policy 101 is a comprehensive guide covering fundamental aspects of U.S. health policy and programs, including Medicare, Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, employer-sponsored insurance, the uninsured population, health care costs and affordability, women's health issues, and health care politics. The Public Health chapter examines how public health is governed and delivered in the United States. It includes explanations of key public health frameworks, services, capabilities and characteristics, how the public health system works in state, local and territorial governments, and public health funding, workforce, and communication challenges in an era of declining trust.
This analysis examines Black adults’ attitudes, concerns, and intentions regarding a COVID-19 vaccine. While Black men and women are similar in many of their views, there is a gender gap in some COVID-19 vaccine attitudes and intentions.
Our latest partnership survey with The Washington Post examines the public’s views, awareness, and preferences related to climate change. The poll assesses the public’s belief in whether human activity is causing climate change and global warming, as well as levels of concern and support for policy solutions. A companion survey of U.S. teens explores how this age group views the issue of climate change and its potential impact on their generation.
A new KFF/Washington Post survey probes in depth what Americans know and think about climate change, their personal involvement with the issue, and their willingness to accept trade-offs to reduce its impact. A parallel survey of teens ages 13-17 explores how they view the potential effects of climate change on their generation.
In this column for The Wall Street Journal’s Think Tank, Drew Altman uses new polling to explore why painkiller abuse and addiction is rising as a health issue among state and federal policymakers.
In his latest column for The Wall Street Journal's Think Tank, Drew Altman uses new polling to explore why painkiller abuse and addiction is rising as a health issue among state and federal policymakers. All previous columns by Drew Altman are available online.
To understand more about how people view the issue of loneliness and social isolation, the Kaiser Family Foundation, in partnership with The Economist, conducted a cross-country survey of adults in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan. The survey included additional interviews with individuals who report always or often feeling lonely, left out, isolated or that they lack companionship to better understand the personal characteristics and life circumstances associated with these feelings, the reported causes of loneliness, and how people are coping. More than a fifth of adults in the United States and the United Kingdom as well as one in ten adults in Japan say they often or always feel lonely, feel that they lack companionship, feel left out, or feel isolated from others, and many of them say their loneliness has had a negative impact on various aspects of their life. About six in ten say there is a specific cause of their loneliness, and they are also more likely to report experiencing negative life events in the past two years, such as a negative change in financial status. Those reporting loneliness in each country report having fewer confidants than others and two-thirds or more say they have just a few or no relatives or friends living nearby who they can rely on for support. Many in the U.S. and U.K. view the increased use of technology as a major reason why people are lonely or socially isolated, whereas fewer people in Japan say the same. But, for those experiencing loneliness or social isolation personally, they are divided as to whether they think social media makes their feelings of loneliness better or worse.
In this column for The Wall Street Journal’s Think Tank, Drew Altman discusses the Christie, Cuomo rift with the federal government over Ebola public health measures and the need for uniform national policies to ease the public’s fears.
This brief identifies key issues and short and long-term options for recovery around the health care financing and delivery systems in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands following Hurricanes Irma and Maria, which caused significant physical damage to the territories. It draws on insights from a Nov. 30 roundtable discussion with leaders and experts representing a variety of perspectives on Medicaid policy, health insurance and care delivery systems, and disaster recovery.
In response to the need to increase access to testing during the COVID-19 pandemic, recent federal legislation, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, amended by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, creates a new optional Medicaid eligibility pathway, with 100% federal matching funds, for states to cover coronavirus testing and testing-related services for uninsured individuals. This new option is available from March 18, 2020 through the end of the public health emergency period. This issue brief answers key questions about how the new eligibility pathway is being implemented, drawing on frequently asked questions issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
69.4 million adult American workers – approximately four in 10 – are potentially ineligible for emergency paid sick leave benefits. Approximately 25% of those workers (17.7 million workers) are in the health care industry. Seventy-five percent of excluded or exempted workers are women.
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