Drug Overdose Deaths Rose During the COVID-19 Pandemic, Particularly Among Black and American Indian/Alaska Native People August 12, 2021 News Release Drug overdose deaths rose during the early part of the COVID-19 pandemic, with some of the biggest jumps occurring among people of color, a new KFF analysis finds. The analysis breaks out drug overdose deaths by race and ethnicity for the first nine months of 2020, when the pandemic triggered…
Most Parents Don’t Want Their Schools to Require COVID-19 Vaccination, But Most Favor Requiring Masks for Unvaccinated Children and Staff August 11, 2021 News Release Worries about Long-Term and Serious Side Effects are Parents’ Top Concern; Hispanic and Black Parents Are More Likely than White Parents to Cite Access and Cost Issues As schools around the country prepare to reopen, a majority of parents of school-age children say they do not want their children’s schools…
Direct Care Workforce Shortages Have Worsened in Many States During the Pandemic, Hampering Providers of Home and Community-Based Services August 10, 2021 News Release During the pandemic many states have experienced worsening direct care workforce shortages that have affected providers of home- and community-based long-term care services (HCBS), according to early findings of a new KFF survey of Medicaid HCBS programs in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Most states reported workforce…
Most Unvaccinated Adults Don’t Believe the Vaccines are Very Effective and See the Vaccines as a Greater Health Risk than COVID-19 Itself August 4, 2021 News Release Vaccinated Adults Are Nearly Twice as Likely as Unvaccinated Ones to Worry that New Variants Like Delta Will Worsen the Pandemic Nationally and Locally As public health officials struggle to boost vaccination rates nationally, the latest KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor reports that a narrow majority (53%) of unvaccinated adults believe…
Once Common, COVID-19 Deaths in Long-Term Care Were Rare across Most States in June August 2, 2021 News Release Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, residents and staff at nursing homes and other long-term care facilities accounted for a huge share of COVID deaths, but a new KFF analysis finds that they were relatively rare events across the country in June. The analysis finds that 13 states and the District…
COVID-19 Vaccine Breakthrough Cases Are Extremely Rare, According to KFF State Data Analysis July 30, 2021 News Release As COVID-19 cases increase along with spread of the more transmissible Delta variant, the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines continues to be an important topic. A new KFF analysis looks at COVID-19 vaccine “breakthrough cases,” when fully vaccinated individuals become infected, as well as hospitalizations and deaths, to see which states…
Lacking Dental Coverage, Many People on Medicare Forgo Dental Care, Especially Beneficiaries of Color July 28, 2021 News Release Many people enrolled in Medicare go without dental care, especially beneficiaries of color, according to a new KFF analysis of dental coverage and costs for people with Medicare. Almost half of all Medicare beneficiaries (47%) did not have a dental visit within the past year as of 2018, the analysis…
Millions of Medicare Part D Enrollees Have Had Out-of-Pocket Drug Costs High Enough to Exceed the Catastrophic Threshold Over Time July 23, 2021 News Release Nearly 3 million Medicare Part D enrollees had out-of-pocket drug spending above the catastrophic threshold in a recent five-year period, finds a new KFF analysis that takes a comprehensive look at how many people on Medicare have drug expenses high enough to push them above that limit. While the Part…
Disparities in Global Vaccination Progress Are Large and Growing, With Low-Income Countries and Those in Africa Lagging Behind July 21, 2021 News Release A new KFF analysis finds that only 1% of those in low-income countries have received at least one vaccine dose compared to 51% in high-income countries, highlighting the substantial vaccine inequities around the world. The analysis examines these inequities by country income level and by region, finding large differences for…
Most Insurers Participating in the Marketplaces Don’t Expect COVID to Affect Their 2022 Costs July 19, 2021 News Release After a tumultuous year of unpredictable COVID-19 changes to utilization and spending, a review of early rate filings for individual market insurers participating in the Affordable Care Act Marketplace finds that most are expecting a return to normal in 2022 without the pandemic playing a large role. The review of…