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How HHS, FDA, and CDC Can Influence U.S. Vaccine Policy | KFF
This policy brief highlights areas in which HHS, FDA, and CDC have authority to shape U.S. vaccine policy with a specific focus on vaccine approvals and recommendations for the public. Ultimately, while there are limits, federal officials have significant authority to influence and alter vaccine policy, which could affect vaccine availability, views about vaccines, and vaccine use in the U.S. However, this does not include imposing mandates on or changing local vaccination requirements, as those authorities rest with state and local governments.
How Much More Would People Pay in Premiums if the ACA's Enhanced Subsidies Expired? | KFF
Enhanced Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies lower premium payments for ACA Marketplace coverage by boosting existing ACA subsidies and making some people newly eligible. Enrollees across incomes benefit from these subsidies. For example, low-income enrollees (making up to 150% of the poverty level) became eligible for free or nearly free coverage. Those earning over four<span class="readmore-ellipsis">…</span><a href="https://www.kff.org/interactive/how-much-more-would-people-pay-in-premiums-if-the-acas-enhanced-subsidies-expired/" class="see-more light-beige no-float inline-readmore">More</a></p>
Section 1115 Waiver Watch: Medicaid Services for Traditional American Indian and Alaska Native Health Care Practices | KFF
In October 2024, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) approved the first ever Section 1115 waiver demonstration amendments that would allow Medicaid and CHIP coverage of traditional health care practices for American Indian or Alaska Native (AIAN) people in Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Oregon. This Waiver Watch reviews disparities in health and health care for AIAN people and summarizes the key features of the approved waivers.
Medicare Advantage 2025 Spotlight: A First Look at Plan Premiums and Benefits | KFF
This brief provides an overview of premiums and benefits in Medicare Advantage plans that are available for 2025 and key trends over time. Two-thirds of all Medicare Advantage plans with Part D prescription drug coverage (MA-PDs) (67%) will charge no premium (other than the Part B premium) in 2025, similar to 2024 (66%). Nearly all Medicare Advantage plans (97% or more) are offering vision, dental and hearing, as they have in previous years. However, the share of plans offering certain benefits has declined, such as over-the-counter benefits (85% in 2024 vs. 72% in 2025), remote access technologies (74% in 2024 vs. 53% in 2025), meal benefits (72% in 2024 vs. 65% in 2025) and transportation (36% in 2024 vs. 29% in 2025).
Medicare Advantage 2025 Spotlight: A First Look at Plan Offerings | KFF
This brief provides an overview of the Medicare Advantage plans that are available for 2025 and key trends over time. The average Medicare beneficiary will have the option of 34 Medicare Advantage prescription drug (MA-PD) plans in 2025, 2 fewer than the 36 options available in 2024. The average Medicare beneficiary can choose among plans offered by 8 firms in 2025, the same as in 2024.
What Administrative Changes Can Trump Make to Medicaid? | KFF
With Donald Trump returning to the presidency, the future of Medicaid is uncertain. While Medicaid did not receive a lot of attention directly during the campaign, Trump’s first term can shed light on potential changes that could be implemented administratively without Congress.
Media Call: What a Second Trump Administration May Mean for Health Care | KFF
Former President Trump’s return to the White House in 2025 could bring big changes to health policy, especially with Republicans projected to control both chambers of Congress. To discuss the possible range of administrative to legislative actions, KFF held a virtual media availability for journalists on November 8, 2024, over Zoom. KFF experts were available<span class="readmore-ellipsis">…</span><a href="https://www.kff.org/media-call-what-a-second-trump-administration-may-mean-for-health-care/" class="see-more light-beige no-float inline-readmore">More</a></p>
KFF/AP VoteCast: Abortion and Other Health Care Issues in the 2024 Election | KFF
This interactive dashboard provides KFF’s insights from AP VoteCast election polling of the 2024 election, focusing on how abortion, including abortion-related ballot measures, and other health care issues have played into voters’ decisions.
Abortion Was a Motivating Factor for Many Voters in Tuesday’s Election But Ranked Lower Than Concerns About the Economy | KFF
Abortion drove many voters to turn out for Tuesday’s election, but not always for Vice President Kamala Harris, while concerns about the economy weighed more heavily on voters’ minds, according to polling data from KFF and the Associated Press. About a quarter of voters said abortion was the “single most important” factor in their vote,<span class="readmore-ellipsis">…</span><a href="https://www.kff.org/womens-health-policy/press-release/abortion-was-a-motivating-factor-for-many-voters-in-tuesdays-election-but-ranked-lower-than-concerns-about-the-economy/" class="see-more light-beige no-float inline-readmore">More</a></p>
Medicaid Coverage of and Spending on GLP-1s | KFF
This brief examines the implications of rising prescriptions for costly GLP-1 drugs for state Medicaid programs as more states consider covering the drugs for weight loss. It examines recent trends in Medicaid prescriptions and gross spending on GLP-1s, and explores the potential implications of expanding coverage obesity drugs for Medicaid programs.
Understanding Racial and Ethnic Identity in Federal Data and Impacts for Health Disparities | KFF
How race, ethnicity, and nationality have been defined and measured has important implications for health disparities, affecting who can access health, social, and economic resources. While narrow and inconsistent race and ethnicity categories have obscured inequities and limited the ability to address the diverse needs of different populations, data on race and ethnicity have also been used to address disparities by informing policies and interventions.
A Look at Waiting Lists for Medicaid Home- and Community-Based Services from 2016 to 2024 | KFF
This data note provides new information about waiting lists for Medicaid Home- and Community-Based Services, including a discussion of why waiting lists are an incomplete measure of unmet need and why they are not necessarily comparable across states or over time.
Health Insurance Marketplace Calculator Embed Instructions | KFF
Usage Guidelines KFF encourages other organizations to embed the Health Insurance Marketplace Calculator on their websites. To do so, follow the instructions below. Please do not alter the embed code in any way without advanced permission.The calculator widget is intended to be embedded in areas between 300 px and 800 px wide and will expand to<span class="readmore-ellipsis">…</span><a href="https://www.kff.org/subsidy-calculator-embed-instructions/" class="see-more light-beige no-float inline-readmore">More</a></p>
Experiences of Direct Care Workers and Family Caregivers of Home- and Community-Based Services (HCBS) | KFF
This issue brief presents findings from the focus groups including caregiver characteristics; physical, emotional, and mental caregiving demands of caregiving; their wages, finances, and opportunities for advancement; and what caregivers would like policymakers to know about their work.
Who are the Direct Care Workers Providing Long-Term Services and Supports (LTSS)? | KFF
This analysis uses the 2022 American Community Survey to provide an overview of demographic characteristics, wages, and health insurance coverage of direct care workers, which include home health aides, personal care aides, nursing assistants, licensed practical nurses (LPNs), and registered nurses (RNs).
Follow the Money: How Medicaid Financing Works and What That Means for Proposals to Change it | KFF
Medicaid financing is complex. This policy watch explains how Medicaid financing works, describes various conservative proposals to change Medicaid financing, and explores the implications of those changes for states and enrollees.
Medicaid and CHIP Eligibility Expansions and Coverage Changes for Children Since the Start of the Pandemic | KFF
KFF's new analysis examines how state coverage changes and expansions in Medicaid and CHIP eligibility for children may help to bolster coverage following the unwinding of the continuous enrollment provision.
Recent Changes in Medicaid Financing in Puerto Rico and Other U.S. Territories | KFF
The U.S territories – American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) – have faced longstanding fiscal and health challenges exacerbated by recent emergencies. This issue brief provides background on how Medicaid financing differs between U.S. territories and states and what these differences mean for funding as well as health care coverage and access.
Racial Disparities in Maternal and Infant Health: Current Status and Efforts to Address Them | KFF
This brief provides an overview of racial disparities for selected measures of maternal and infant health, discusses the factors that drive these disparities, and gives an overview of recent efforts to address them.
The Mexico City Policy: An Explainer | KFF
Explore an overview of the Mexico City Policy, which, when last in effect, required foreign NGOs to certify that they would not “perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning” using funds from any source (including non-U.S. funds) as a condition for receiving most U.S. government global health assistance.
How Abortion Misinformation Gives Rise to Restrictive Abortion Laws - KFF Health Misinformation Monitor - | KFF
This volume explores false claims suggesting abortions occur after birth, misleading narratives around the safety abortion pills, like mifepristone, and other tactics used to distort the safety of abortions. It also explores research on the acceptance of health misinformation and the proliferation of AI-generated fake news sites.
Copay Adjustment Programs: What Are They and What Do They Mean for Consumers? | KFF
Drug makers sometimes offer copay coupons to lower consumers’ out-of-pocket costs for their brand-name prescriptions, though how private health plans treat those coupons can substantially limit their value to consumers. This issue brief provides an overview of such copay adjustment programs, stakeholder arguments for and against their use, their prevalence, and federal and state efforts to address them.
Access to Pregnancy and Parenting Support Services: Women’s Views and Experiences from the 2024 KFF Women’s Health Survey | KFF
This analysis, based on findings from the 2024 KFF Women's Health Survey, focuses on women with children ages 5 & under and their perceptions on how easy or difficult they feel it is to access a range of services that are important to the health of women and families, including maternity care, Medicaid coverage, food stamps, contraceptive services, and affordable childcare.
As Pandemic-Era Policies End, Medicaid Programs Focus on Enrollee Access and Reducing Health Disparities Amid Future Uncertainties: Results from an Annual Medicaid Budget Survey for State Fiscal Years 2024 and 2025 | KFF
This report highlights certain policies in place in state Medicaid programs in FY 2024 and policy changes implemented or planned for FY 2025, which began on July 1, 2024 for most states.
After Pandemic-Era Policies and Enhanced Funding End, State Medicaid Officials Report Enrollment Declines and Upward Cost Pressures | KFF
Costs are limiting states’ coverage of obesity drugs and could affect other Medicaid priorities States expect national Medicaid enrollment to decline by about 4% and state Medicaid spending to rise by 7% in fiscal year (FY) 2025. These rates follow a larger but anticipated enrollment decline and state spending increase in FY 2024, as pandemic-era<span class="readmore-ellipsis">…</span><a href="https://www.kff.org/medicaid/press-release/after-pandemic-era-policies-and-enhanced-funding-end-state-medicaid-officials-report-enrollment-declines-and-upward-cost-pressures/" class="see-more light-beige no-float inline-readmore">More</a></p>
What Are the Primary Medicaid Eligibility Pathways for Dual-Eligible Individuals? | KFF
This brief examines current Medicaid eligibility policies and enrollment patterns using data from KFF’s 2024 50-state survey of states’ eligibility and enrollment policies for seniors and people with disabilities, and 2021 Medicare and Medicaid claims data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
Access to Fertility Care: Findings from the 2024 KFF Women’s Health Survey | KFF
This brief provides new data from the 2024 KFF Women’s Health Survey on access to fertility care, including women’s opinions about access in their state, cost barriers, and the range of fertility services that women use.
Dependent Coverage for Young Adults in Employer-Sponsored Health Plans | KFF
Young adults, particularly those ages 18-25, are more likely to be covered as dependents than adults overall (72% vs. 32%). The Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires most employer plans to allow young adults to remain on a parent’s plan until age 26.
Medigap May Be Elusive for Medicare Beneficiaries with Pre-Existing Conditions | KFF
This issue brief analyzes federal and state guaranteed issue rules and how they impact beneficiaries’ access to Medigap, including the implications for Medicare beneficiaries with pre-existing conditions and those under age 65 with long-term disabilities. This brief also explores a recently finalized rule: Nondiscrimination in Health Programs and Activities regarding Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act that may have implications for the Medigap market.
Gaps in Awareness of Insurance Requirements to Cover Preventive Services Among Women | KFF
KFF's 2024 Women's Health Survey finds that women aren't fully aware that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires insurance plans to cover the full cost of recommended preventive health care services - especially contraception.
Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities: Potential Implications of the Election | KFF
Former President Trump and Vice President Harris have taken widely different stances and approaches on recognizing and addressing racial and ethnic disparities. These differences can be seen across areas of health care, including health coverage, reproductive and maternal health, and immigrant health and well-being and are likely to have important implications for future efforts to address health disparities.