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.
This policy watch examines the United States’ measles elimination status, including what it means to eliminate measles, whether the current measles outbreak could threaten the country’s measles elimination status, and what losing that status might mean for measles control.
The loss of measles elimination status would primarily carry symbolic weight, as the effect of rising cases and deaths is already clear. Still, it is a marker of how a combination of factors - COVID-19, increasing vaccine skepticism, and a growing partisan divide about vaccines - has been a step back for public health, and it is not clear when or if this trend will be reversed.
New regulations and guidelines for the use of AI in health care have sought to answer questions about human oversight and accountability. Separately, a new HHS initiative aims to expand research into potential vaccine injuries, but some medical organizations have questioned how the efforts may be perceived.
KFF Founding President and CEO Dr. Drew Altman delivered the Victor J. Dzau Keynote Address at the National Academy of Medicine’s 2026 Annual Meeting (Scientific Symposium on Chronic Disease) on October 10, 2026, where he described the big challenges ahead in health policy, and where chronic illness fits.
KFF’s recently released Tracking Poll finds that public confidence in the safety of COVID-19 vaccines for use during pregnancy has fallen, and many are uncertain about a false claim linking the vaccines with higher risk of miscarriage. Separately, conversations about childhood vaccines frame vaccination as an individual parental decision.
Drawing on KFF's poll findings, this interactive dashboard tracks the public’s trusted sources for health information, attitudes toward vaccines, and use of news, social media, and AI for health-related information. It provides visual representations of the key trends in the public’s trust in health information and tracks exposure to and belief in false and unproven health claims.
The latest KFF Tracking Poll on Health Information and Trust finds about half of parents mistakenly believe spacing out vaccines is healthier for children, while confidence in many long-standing childhood vaccines is high across partisans. These findings take on new relevance following President Trump's recent executive order calling for changes in U.S. childhood vaccine recommendations, including splitting the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine—currently given as a single combined shot—into three separate vaccines across multiple…
A comprehensive timeline of public health policy actions by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under the Trump administration from 2025-2026, with key dates, descriptions, and impacts.
Federal vaccine policy has shifted toward fewer recommended routine childhood vaccinations, more emphasis on individual decision-making, and greater skepticism about the safety and efficacy of some vaccines. The changes coincide with declining childhood vaccination rates, rising exemptions from school vaccine requirements, and a major measles resurgence.
States are taking different regulatory approaches to AI mental health tools in response to concerns about chatbots providing inaccurate or potentially dangerous advice. Laws and pending legislation in some states restrict AI from providing or advertising itself as therapy, while others focus on data protections, disclosures, and patient consent requirements.
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