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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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This brief presents five key facts about Medicaid coverage among individuals living in rural areas. It draws on recent data to describe enrollment patterns, differences by state Medicaid expansion status, characteristics of the rural Medicaid population, and patterns of health care use among enrollees.
On May 22, 2025, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a budget reconciliation bill that includes significant reductions in federal Medicaid spending to help offset the cost of tax cuts, along with changes to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), immigration reforms and other provisions. This issue brief discusses the potential implications of the bill for hospitals and explains how some hospitals (such as rural hospitals as well as urban hospitals that serve a large share of Medicaid patients) may be less well positioned than others (such as hospitals that serve a large share of commercial patients) to absorb revenue losses given their current financial status.
This brief highlights key facts about Medicare beneficiaries living in rural areas, including their demographic and health characteristics, access to care, and satisfaction with care.
As Congress works to pass the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," which includes significant changes to Medicaid and the ACA, the latest KFF Health Tracking Poll examines the views of groups that could be most directly impacted by the impending legislation. The poll finds most of the public is worried about the consequences of federal funding reductions to Medicaid, including rural residents, those with lower incomes, and across partisans.
As Congress weighs spending cuts and other changes to Medicaid, more than half (54%) of the public say they are worried significant reductions in federal Medicaid spending would negatively affect their family’s ability to obtain and afford health care, a new KFF Health Tracking Poll finds.
To understand the role of Medicare Part D stand-alone prescription drug plans in serving rural Medicare beneficiaries, this data note analyzes 2025 Part D enrollment in PDPs and Medicare Advantage drug plans by geographic area nationally and at the state level.
This brief explores data about rural hospitals’ financial health and stability at a time when Congress is considering potential federal budget cuts. It examines the prevalence of rural hospitals, their characteristics and finances, federal support for these facilities, and the potential impact of reductions in Medicaid and Medicare spending that are under consideration.
While enrollment in Medicare Advantage, the private plan alternative to traditional Medicare, has grown steadily over the past decade, traditional Medicare remains the most common source of coverage for people who live in rural areas.
This analysis presents key facts about hospitals with more than 40 charts related to national spending on hospital care, characteristics of the hospital industry, rural hospitals, use of hospital care, out-of-pocket spending and medical debt, hospital prices, hospital finances, and charity care.
This brief reports on community health center patients, services, experiences, and financing in 2023 and analyzes changes from 2019 (pre-pandemic) through 2023 using data from the Uniform Data System (UDS) and the 2022 Health Center Patient Survey.
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