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.
A new KFF poll assessing the broad reach of the nation’s opioids crisis on families across the United States reveals that three-in-ten adults (29%) say they or someone in their family have ever been addicted to opioids, including prescription painkillers and illegal drugs like heroin.
KFF Health News today launched a new limited-series podcast, "Epidemic: Eradicating Smallpox," with host Dr. Céline Gounder, senior fellow and editor-at-large for public health at KFF Health News. The eight-episode podcast takes listeners on a journey to South Asia, the site of the last days of variola major smallpox.
This brief provides an overview of the impact of mpox in the U.S. one year after a case of was identified domestically and the federal response to date, and discusses the future outlook.
KFF hosted CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky for a discussion focused on the status of COVID-19, the CDC’s priorities for the future, including the agency’s recent reorganization and other potential reforms, and how CDC is considering the health implications of climate change. Dr. Drew Altman, president and CEO of KFF, made introductory remarks. Dr. Jen Kates, senior vice president and director of KFF’s work on global health and HIV policy, moderated a discussion with Dr. Rochelle Walensky and Dr. Judy Monroe, CDC Foundation president and CEO, who discussed the future of public health as well as the role of public-private partnerships.
KFF Health News has taken top honors in the National Institute for Health Care Management (NIHCM) Foundation’s 2023 Awards in Journalism and Research for its series “Diagnosis: Debt.” The multifaceted reporting partnership among KFF Health News, NPR, and CBS News explores the scale, impact, and causes of medical debt in America.
This survey examines Americans’ experiences with gun-related incidents such as being threatened with a gun, having a family member killed by a gun, or witnessing someone being shot. The survey also explores worries about gun violence, precautions people report taking to protect their families, how gun owners say they store their guns, and discussions about guns with health care providers.
Experiences with gun-related incidents are common across the country, with about one in five adults saying that they have personally been threatened with a gun (21%) or had a family member killed by a gun, including by suicide (19%), finds a new KFF survey about Americans’ experiences with gun-related violence and incidents.
In a months-long project, KFF’s Kaiser Health News correspondent Brett Kelman joined forces with CBS News National Consumer Investigative Correspondent Anna Werner to investigate an unregulated dental device that is at the heart of numerous accounts of pain and disfigurement.
KFF’s Kaiser Health News (KHN) is launching a weekly one-minute health information segment for CBS News Radio stations that will help millions of listeners stay informed and make better health decisions. CBS News Radio began offering the KHN Health Minute to its more than 700 affiliate stations weekly on Jan. 12.
An updated Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker analysis shows the United States experienced a second year of decline in life expectancy in 2021 while other comparably large, wealthy countries saw a rebound in life expectancy since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019.
© 2026 KFF