Health Costs

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently announced the drugs selected for the second round of negotiation for the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program, which was established by the Inflation Reduction Act. These FAQs address several questions related to Medicare’s drug price negotiation program and CMS’s implementation of the program, with a focus on the details that apply for 2027, the second year that negotiated prices will be available under the program.

This policy watch provides a short overview of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), describing its history, budget, organizational structure and its major programs and responsibilities.

With the incoming Trump administration and Republican-led Congress looking to ways to reduce federal spending, this Poll finds that the Medicare and Medicaid programs remain broadly popular, and more people favor more spending on those programs than less spending. Among potential actions on health, the public sees price transparency and limiting chemicals in food as top priorities. Few say so about cuts to Medicaid and restrictions on abortion.

With the incoming Trump administration and Republican-led Congress looking to ways to reduce federal spending, a new KFF Health Tracking Poll finds that the Medicare and Medicaid programs remain broadly popular, and more people favor more spending on those programs than less spending. About eight in 10 Americans overall view…

In this column, KFF President and CEO Drew Altman explores the state of consumer protections in health care and explains why, even with consumer frustration clear, Congress is unlikely to pursue major new health insurance protections but there could be some modest steps.

The Health Spending Explorer on the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker helps users examine five decades worth of numbers documenting expenditures by federal and local governments, private insurers, and individuals on 15 categories of health services, including hospitals, physician and clinic care, and prescription drugs.

This analysis finds that Medicare’s negotiated prices for 10 high-expenditure prescription drugs are lower than what private Medicare drug plans had been paying, but still much higher than the prices available in 11 other wealthy nations.. It is available on the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker.

This data note examines trends in hospital margins from 2018 through 2023 and how operating margins varied across different types of hospitals in 2023. It shows the industry overall experienced a rebound in 2023 after margins fell sharply the previous year, though some hospitals – particularly those in rural areas and those who see many Medicaid patients – continue to struggle.