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 brief summarizes key findings and themes from the COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor project that is tracking the dynamic nature of the U.S. public’s attitudes and experiences with COVID-19 vaccination, and is based on more than 11,000 interviews conducted since December 2020.
This analysis examines the different approaches states are taking to manage the limited initial supply of COVID-19 vaccines and balance the desire to vaccinate those at greatest risk first with the need to ensure a fast and effective statewide vaccination effort. It includes a state data table.
A new KFF analysis examines the different approaches states are taking to manage the limited initial supply of COVID-19 vaccines and balance the desire to vaccinate those at greatest risk first with the need to ensure a fast and effective statewide vaccination effort. Based on a review of state vaccination plans, the analysis finds that states are increasingly departing from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendations as they move through the first three…
This post examines a growing COVID-19 vaccine gap in Red and Blue America, with the share of the population that have been fully vaccinated in counties that voted for President Biden in 2020 increasing more rapidly than the share in counties that voted for President Trump.
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has awarded KFF’s Kaiser Health News and The Associated Press one of its top journalism prizes for a joint investigation that revealed the diminished state of the U.S. public health infrastructure in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. The AAAS gave the news organizations its Gold Award in science reporting for “Hollowed-Out Public Health System Faces More Cuts Amid Virus,” an investigation that found that the…
With hopes that a COVID-19 vaccine or vaccines will be proven safe and effective soon, state and local public health authorities will play a critical role in ensuring the efficient distribution and administration of the vaccine. To assess the readiness of these local governments to take on these responsibilities, KFF reviewed the preliminary vaccine distribution plans submitted to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last month by the states and the District of…
A new KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor report finds that people who were initially hesitant to get a vaccine in January but ultimately did so often say that family, friends and their personal doctors helped change their minds. The report features a second round of interviews with a nationally representative sample of adults six months after they first shared their vaccine intentions in January, early in the nation’s vaccine distribution effort. The new survey assesses whether…
This post provides summary of funding for COVID-19 vaccines and other public health efforts in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.
This slideshow provides an aggregated summary of Kaiser Family Foundation’s latest poll findings on the Zika virus. Results include how much Americans know about the virus, how worried they are about it, and what role they believe the government should be playing to fight its spread.
In the wake of the lead crisis affecting drinking water in Flint, Mich., the public now ranks contaminated drinking water among the most serious national health issues, trailing cancer, according to the April Kaiser Health Tracking Poll. When asked about a series of health issues facing the country, more than a third (35%) identify contaminated drinking water as “extremely serious,” behind cancer (43%) and similar to heroin abuse (35%) and ahead of major diseases such…
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