Drew Altman

Deepest sympathies for the many great journalists laid off at the Washington Post today. A comment on many things about the news industry and why I prefer our non profit model with our own stable funding and no need to chase revenue or clicks.

Stacked bar chart showing the public's levels of worry when it comes to affording living necessities. Shown among total adults.

It’s not going to be a health care election but it will partly be a health cost election.

Our new poll: on.kff.org/3LGVtUh

When you think about us having a health care cost problem, which part of this Venn diagram comes to mind first?
@drewaltman.bsky.social
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Our Darwinian Approach to Health Care Costs In his latest column, President and CEO Dr. Drew Altman presents his Venn diagram of health care cost problems and shows how, in our fragmented health system, reducing one health cost problem often ma...

Everyone wants to reduce health care spending – their own, often at the expense of someone else’s health spending. No one really wants to take on underlying costs.

My latest column: on.kff.org/4a11umO

Medicaid: What to Watch in 2026 | KFF In this brief on Medicaid issues to watch for 2026, KFF explores how state fiscal pressures are likely to converge with the implementation of the 2025 reconciliation law to affect Medicaid coverage, f...

More on what to watch this year: on.kff.org/4r4r80I

Medicaid and Upcoming State Budget Debates | KFF This brief describes current state fiscal conditions as states begin fiscal year 2027 budget debates and highlights key areas to watch for Medicaid policy changes as states respond to fiscal challenge...

States are starting to cut Medicaid as revenues fall and federal cuts loom, making lots of different cuts to spread the pain and ease the politics. But work requirements and the $1T in federal Medicaid cuts have not hit yet. on.kff.org/45rYOND

Trump is not interested in Greenland’s rare earth minerals, or national security. He wants their single payer health system.

We have been trying to analyze the Trump health “plan” but I worry that unless Congress puts something real together we are analyzing air. Big Q’s such as are pre-x protected are impossible to answer from their Fact Sheet. What we do know: it partly captured a news cycle.

Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Calls on Congress to Enact The Great Healthcare Plan CALLING ON CONGRESS TO LOWER HEALTHCARE COSTS: Today, President Donald J. Trump called on Congress to enact the Great Healthcare Plan, a comprehensive

It looks like Trump’s “buy your own insurance“ plan would largely do away with pre-x protections and the Marketplaces, but not insurance companies he doesn’t like who would still provide most of the coverage.

Trump Has No Health Plan, He Has the Art of the Health Care Deal In his first column for the new year, KFF CEO Dr. Drew Altman analyzes President Trump’s “make a deal” approach to health care. He explains that while the president doesn’t have a health reform plan, ...

Today Trump called on R’s to “ own health care”, an issue they have never won. But with what? Trump favors narrow, glitzy industry deals, not comprehensive plans dealing with coverage and costs. Can that formula work?

My column: on.kff.org/4ssYisr

First-Year Rural Health Fund Awards Range From Less Than $100 Per Rural Resident in Ten States to More Than $500 in Eight | KFF This policy watch evaluates state awards through the rural health fund in 2026, the first year of the program. The analysis shows relatively modest variations in total awards this year across states b...

The Rural Fund grants are a grab bag from telehealth to mobile health to parks and trails for recreation.

Our analysis based on rural population:

Poll: 1 in 3 ACA Marketplace Enrollees Say They Would "Very Likely" Shop for a Cheaper Plan If Their Premium Payments Doubled; 1 in 4 Say They “Very Likely” Would Go Without Insurance | KFF If the amount they pay in premiums doubled, about one in three enrollees in Affordable Care Act Marketplace health plans say they would be “very likely” to look for a lower-premium Marketplace plan (w...

1 in 4 in our Marketplace enrollee survey say they will drop insurance. But 1 in 3 will pick cheaper high deductible plans, many with deductibles and co-pays they cannot afford. on.kff.org/4464PPo

Why We Are Stuck with Prior Authorization Review Prior authorization review frustrates patients and physicians, but we likely can’t just eliminate it. In his new column, President and CEO Dr. Drew Altman discusses why, and why the focus is now inste...

No one likes prior authorization review. But could we get rid of it? My new column: www.kff.org/from-drew-al...

Under Trump, Immigrants Are More Fearful but Determined to Stay, Poll Finds

Our survey of immigrants with the NYT, out now, shows while the immigration crackdown has caused fear and anxiety, immigrants still prefer the U.S. to where they came from and are optimistic about the future.

With that resilience, nativism can’t win long term.

How ACA Marketplace costs compare to employer-sponsored health insurance - Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker Prior to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), insurers selling coverage to individuals would deny people with serious pre-existing conditions and high-risk occupations, exclude coverage for certain services...

With all the talk about ACA costs being out of control, they are actually quite similar to and slightly less than employer (group) health costs.

The problem is health care costs, not the ACA.

If Republicans decide to make a deal on ACA tax credits to reduce the political danger for moderate R’s in the midterms, there are compromises with Democrats that can work. See Jonathan Cohn in Bulwark today. That’s if.

With one vote on the ACA tax credits in December, no agreement on a plan, and no commitment from the House or Trump, there is no apparent path to extending the credits. It means the issue will prosecuted in the midterms, and it means pain for tens of millions of Americans.

The government is shut down over health care. But does insurance save lives? The surprisingly tricky question stumped researchers for decades. But they think they finally have an answer.

Not this again. Insurance provides access to health care, so it’s actually health care that “doesn’t save lives”, statistically in the aggregate, because most people aren’t sick. But if you get sick, it absolutely does. Anybody ready to go without it. www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

Trump has now called for replacing the ACA (again) so people can buy skimpier policies from insurance companies (again)?? In a shutdown debate where tax credits are the issue not the popular law. As a negotiating strategy that’s tripling down.

Many implications of the big Dem win tonight. One for health care: it could provide an incentive for Republicans to make a deal on ACA tax credits to deny Democrats the issue in the midterms and further momentum.

KFF bar chart graphic titled "About 4 in 10 Parents Support the MAHA Movement, Including 8 in 10 MAGA Republican Parents." Data shows varying levels of support across different demographics including party ID, race/ethnicity, education, age, and gender. Key insights include higher support among Republicans and lower support among Democrats and Independents. Presented by KFF/The Washington Post, dated July 18-August 4, 2025.

Who are MAHA parents?

The breakdown from our poll with the @washingtonpost.com: on.kff.org/477Oo5L

In Mississippi, Medicaid Coverage of Weight Loss Drugs Fails to Catch On - KFF Health News In Mississippi, a state with one of the highest obesity rates in the nation, Medicaid covers weight loss drugs, but few enrollees have signed up for the benefit.

GLP-1s in the real world of Mississippi Medicaid: the people and the costs.

Check out this story from our Phil Galewitz:

Four in ten who buy their own coverage say they would go without coverage if ACA premiums doubled. They will increase 114% if enhanced tax credits are not extended: on.kff.org/4nACyIk

KFF graphic featuring a quote from Emma Wager, KFF Senior Policy Analyst, Program on the ACA. It says, "Nationwide, 93% of ACA Marketplace enrollees received premium tax credits in 2025, but enrollees living in states won by President Trump in 2024 were even more likely to have subsidized coverage... Additionally, 80% of all premium tax credits ($115 billion) went to ACA Marketplace enrollees in Trump-won states."

Politically its Republicans in swing districts who could lose who have to worry most about ACA premium hikes blowing back on them. But its Republicans everywhere whose constituents will be most affected by the hikes: on.kff.org/3VQ3kjF

Another reason health costs will spike. Get ready for a run on GLP-1’s by admirals and generals. thehill.com/policy/defen...

They are going to need a new poster.

Our new number, based on new information: ACA premiums will rise an average of 114%. on.kff.org/3WfWxjj

Two KFF findings Republicans might want to consider when deciding how much they care about the looming 100+% premium spike:

More than 1/4 of farmers and ranchers are marketplace enrollees.

Almost 1/2 of enrollees are small business owners or work for them.

KFF graphic featuring a quote from Drew Altman, KFF President and CEO, that was featured in a New York Times article titled “Why Obamacare Bills May Double Next Year” published on September 24, 2025. The quote says, “The consequences are potentially pretty dire for the 24 million people in the marketplaces whose costs are going to skyrocket.”

The Senate’s failure to pass a spending bill last week raises the stakes for 24M people in the ACA marketplaces who could see significantly higher premiums next year if the enhanced tax credits expire.

More from @drewaltman.bsky.social via @nytimes.com: nyti.ms/46k2XE2

Alt text: Dark blue background with white text that features a quote from KFF President and CEO Drew Altman. It says, “Almost 24 million moderate-income working people will experience the loss of the enhanced tax credits in the context of family budgets already straining to pay for food, utilities and housing. They don’t look at it the way we often do in health— ‘it’s X dollars more.’ They experience it as X dollars more on top of everything else. And right now, most everything else is also going up.” This quote is from Drew’s latest “Beyond the Data” column.

In his latest column, KFF’s @drewaltman.bsky.social explains how higher health insurance premiums in the marketplaces — if enhanced ACA tax credits expire — could strain family budgets already stretched by food, housing, and utility costs. https://on.kff.org/48wSuXi

How an ACA Premium Spike Will Affect Family Budgets, and Voters In his latest column, President and CEO Dr. Drew Altman shows how spiking premiums, which may come if the enhanced ACA tax credits are not extended, will hit people in the context of their family budg...

How will it affect family budgets if the ACA enhanced tax credits are not extended?

For lower income (23k) the increase alone is a quarter of what they spend on food. More moderate income (80k), well more than 2x their food budget.

My latest column: