Insurance Cost

A new issue brief examines compliance with a new federal price transparency rule and variation in payer-negotiated rates at U.S. hospitals. The analysis looks at the websites of the two largest hospitals in each state and the District of Columbia, and finds that a lack of consistency in the data and limited compliance among the

In spite of a new price transparency rule that requires hospitals to publish the prices of common health services, comparing prices across hospitals remains challenging due to limited compliance with the law and a lack of standardization in the available data, a new KFF analysis finds. The federal rule, which went into effect on January

A new issue brief reviews excess death rates in the U.S. and peer countries by age groups to examine how the pandemic has affected excess mortality rate among younger people. The analysis looks specifically at the excess deaths that arose in 2020 to examine how the age at death during the pandemic has differed between

A new KFF issue brief examines 2020 data on excess mortality – the number of deaths above what is expected in a typical year – and finds that among similarly large and wealthy nations, the United States had the highest premature excess mortality rate in 2020, indicating that younger people in the U.S. were more

During the 2020 presidential campaign, President Biden supported several policies to lower prescription drug costs, including proposals to authorize the federal government to negotiate drug prices, cap out-of-pocket drug costs in Medicare Part D, and limit drug price increases to the rate of inflation. Whether or not the 117th Congress acts on these or other

Even as the pandemic took a devastating toll on health care workers and older adults in the United States, many home care workers continued to report to work and provide vital care to vulnerable people despite the health risks to themselves and their own families. KFF’s Kaiser Health News and The John A. Hartford Foundation

Majorities Favor Provisions to Expand Marketplace Tax Credits and Encourage States to Expand Medicaid As Congress considers an additional $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief plan, more than a third (37%) of Americans say that someone in their household has had trouble paying basic living expenses over the past three months, the latest KFF Health Tracking Poll

Key Findings After one month in office, a majority of the public (62%) approve of the way President Biden is handling the coronavirus pandemic – including nine in ten Democrats (92%). The pandemic’s economic effects continue to be felt as 37% of adults say they or another adult in their household have had trouble paying

Total health care spending for people with private health insurance would be an estimated $352 billion lower in 2021 if private insurers used Medicare rates to pay hospitals and other health care providers, rather than the substantially higher rates they currently pay, a new KFF analysis finds. That would represent a 41 percent decrease from

The cost of health care is becoming less affordable for both privately insured individuals and employers who offer health insurance coverage. Long-standing concerns about high and rising health care costs in the United States have been recently exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has increased financial pressure on many employers and individuals and led to

Admissions to hospitals for reasons other than COVID-19 fell markedly again in November as cases of infections with the novel coronavirus began to surge anew, suggesting that more people were delaying care due to the worsening pandemic, according to an updated analysis by Epic Health Research Network (EHRN) and KFF. The recent decline follows a

A new issue brief shows where Americans typically get flu vaccines in the U.S. and how much it costs to administer flu and other vaccines. Among the analysis’ findings: while most people get flu vaccines at a doctor’s office or retail health clinic, White people are more likely than Black, Hispanic, Asian, and American Indian

Introduction In the closing days of 2020, Congress enacted and the President signed into law the No Surprises Act, providing new federal consumer protections against surprise medical bills.  The measure was included in omnibus legislation funding the federal government for fiscal year 2021 and providing stimulus relief for the COVID-19 pandemic.  Its enactment followed nearly

A new issue brief examines the most recent data on deaths from COVID-19 and other causes, and finds that COVID-19 is currently the number one cause of death in the United States. As of January 26, 2021, an average of more than 3,000 people per day died of COVID-19 in the U.S. during the first