In a virtual Health Wonk Shop event this week, KFF's Larry Levitt and Ashley Kirzinger were joined by panelists to consider health care affordability from a variety of perspectives, including how to define affordability, measure it, and what can be done to address the underlying costs of health care overall.
Also, recent KFF polling shows that costs are the top health care issues for voters in the midterms, but fraud tops Republicans' list. Plus, three new short videos on health care affordability look at the underlying drivers of health care spending, the true cost of employer sponsored health insurance, and whether the ACA has delivered on its promise.
Passed last year, HR1 made significant changes to Medicaid, which are expected to lead to coverage loss for many current enrollees and reduce federal funding for Medicaid, placing new financial pressures on states and health care providers. KFF and States Newsroom co-hosted a virtual event focused on the impacts of work requirements and other federal policy changes on states, health care systems, and the people who rely on Medicaid.
For the fourth in his “Untold KFF History” series, KFF’s Founding President and CEO Dr. Drew Altman discusses KFF’s polling partnerships with major news organizations—a practice that began with the Washington Post in 1995, with whom KFF has now conducted 37 major survey projects, and has since become central to KFF, helping to "magnify our polling by bringing together survey data, in-depth journalism and storytelling.
Bill Cassidy of Louisiana chairs the Senate’s health committee. In an interview with KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner, he discusses the drug supply, his proposal to defray out-of-pocket costs, and his controversial vote to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary.
AI is racing into everyday medicine. The rules of the road are still being written. Dr. Michelle Mello of Stanford, professor at both the Law School and the School of Medicine, and co-leader of its Healthcare Ethical Assessment Lab for AI, joins KFF's The Business of Health podcast to address the questions that trail every advance this series has covered: who makes the rules, who ensures the technology gets it right — and who answers when it doesn't?
The latest Monitor highlights KFF’s latest Tracking Poll on Health Information and Trust which finds that following large declines in trust in federal health agencies from 2020 through early 2026, trust in the CDC as a source of health information held steady over the last 6 months, while trust in both President Trump and state government officials declined somewhat.
Also, a new Quick Take looks at the skepticism surrounding the FDA’s retraction of a positive test tying Taylor Farms lettuce to the cyclosporiasis outbreak comes at a time of broader public distrust in the agency.
Question of the Week
Last week, 17% of readers answered correctly that 27% of adults say they are “very” worried about affording health care costs for themselves and their families.
Starting January 1, 2027, how many states will be required to condition Medicaid eligibility for adults and some enrollees in waiver programs on meeting work requirements?
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