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.
In this Monitor, we explore how ongoing misinformation about the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines may affect the acceptance of new vaccine recommendations. First, we examine the false and misleading claims underlying the Kansas Attorney General’s lawsuit against Pfizer. We also discuss the CDC’s most recent vaccine.
A new KFF analysis finds that firearms are involved in the majority of all homicides and suicides in the U.S., playing a role in 79% of homicides and 55% of suicide deaths in 2022, the most recent data available.
Firearm deaths increased sharply over the past decade, rising from 92 deaths per day to 132 deaths per day from 2012 to 2022. Firearms are the leading cause of total suicides and homicides, making up 55% of all suicide deaths and 79% of all homicides in 2022.
This edition focuses on intentionally false or misleading information online and its potential impact on public trust in health care. We share a recent report that exposed a covert U.S. military social media disinformation campaign in the Philippines that may have undermined public confidence in vaccines. We also examine how false claims about sunscreen and non-FDA-approved "miracle cures" may be discouraging people from taking important preventative measures and seeking legitimate medical treatment. Finally, we explore the rise of counterfeit diabetes and weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and the potential impact on trust in the pharmaceutical supply chain.
This first edition of the Health Misinformation Monitor explores misinformation about raw milk amid bird flu outbreaks on dairy farms, false vaccine narratives that continue to spread, and legal challenges against abortion pill reversal claims. Additionally, a growing number of states have required public schools to show fetal development videos that some have called biased and inaccurate. This Monitor report also provides a snapshot of new KFF misinformation polling on TikTok and discusses the early challenges faced by The World Health Organization’s new AI tool SARAH in providing accurate answers to health questions.
This analysis uses data on “animal production workers” from the 2022 American Community Survey to examine characteristics of workers who may be at risk for exposure to H5N1 avian influenza, which has been found in dairy cattle herds in nine U.S. states as of May 14, 2024. The analysis compares characteristics of these workers to all U.S. workers, to all workers in the H5N1-affected states, and draws out some implications. Among the findings are that animal production workers are more likely than workers overall to be Hispanic and noncitizen immigrants, as well as to be uninsured.
In his new column, KFF President and CEO Drew Altman discusses the pros and cons of labeling socio-economic problems as health issues.
Rates of long COVID have begun to flatten. About 1 in 10 adults with COVID have reported having long COVID since rates fell in 2023, according to a KFF analysis of the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
This issue brief analyzes the latest data on rates of long COVID, which have appeared to stabilize, affecting about 1 in 10 adults who have had COVID.
The U.S. has by far the highest homicide by firearm rate among similarly large and wealthy countries, including among children and teens.
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