The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.
July 18, 2025
In his latest Beyond the Data column, KFF President and CEO Dr. Drew Altman examines the controversial rural hospital grant program, noting “Will the new $50 billion rural hospital grant program in the big Republican tax and spending law just amount to a bunch of ribbon cutting and big check ceremonies, or will it help rural hospitals offset coming Medicaid cuts, help them in general, or all of the above?”
Beyond the Data Read PostJuly 9, 2025
In his latest Beyond the Data column, President and CEO Dr. Drew Altman discusses whether Democrats can make the Medicaid and ACA cuts a winning political issue before the midterm elections and before most people feel the cuts.
Beyond the Data Read PostJune 24, 2025
In a new column, Dr. Drew Altman, KFF’s President and CEO, examines the different counts of the number of people on Medicaid that are currently in use, which range from 69 to 83 million, and why it might matter. He also discusses other ways to assess the reach of the program: “possibly it’s useful to explain why there are different numbers out there about what seemingly is an all-time simple question: how many people are on Medicaid,” Altman says.
Beyond the Data Read PostJune 18, 2025
In a new column, Dr. Drew Altman, KFF’s President and CEO, discusses the limits of polling on policy, and what we have learned over more than 30 years of polling about how giving people more information and arraying tradeoffs can change opinion, including on the health policy changes and funding cuts in the current reconciliation bill.
Beyond the Data Read PostJune 10, 2025
In his latest column, President and CEO Drew Altman discusses how, with nearly half, or about 10 million MAGA supporters and Republicans receiving coverage through the ACA Marketplaces, the policy changes and cuts being considered by Republicans to the Marketplaces will directly affect their own voters. Altman writes: “Republicans are no longer interested in repealing the ACA but seem comfortable shrinking it significantly if they can, so long as they don’t touch protections for pre-existing conditions, which is now a political third rail.”
Beyond the Data Read PostMay 20, 2025
In his latest column, President and CEO Drew Altman shows how proposals contained in the House reconciliation bill could result in a one-third reduction in ACA Marketplace enrollment. “While all eyes are on the big Medicaid cuts being proposed in the House,” he writes, “significant changes are also being proposed that together would dramatically reduce enrollment in the ACA Marketplaces.”
Beyond the Data Read Post