Matthew Rae

Benton Institute for Broadband & Society Announces Marjorie & Charles Benton Opportunity Fund Fellowships Examining Barriers to Broadband Latest cohort of researchers supported by Marjorie & Charles Benton Opportunity Fund

So excited about our new fellows. They're tackling issues like climate risk, accountability mechanisms, and how our institutions and policies can impact people’s ability to access and use the internet.

But as @johnbhorrigan.bsky.social's analysis of American Community Survey data showed (and has consistently shown) that people over 60 are less likely to have home internet access or appropriate devices to access these services online.

New Social Security rules will create hurdles for millions of seniors, report finds A new report from a left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities finds that upcoming changes to Social Security will amount to a "45-mile trip for some 6 million seniors."

New rules require seniors to seek services online or travel in-person to social security offices.
wamu.org/story/25/04/...

New Rule Proposes Changes to ACA Coverage of Gender-Affirming Care, Potentially Increasing Costs for Consumers | KFF This brief examines a proposed rule that seeks to change how ACA plans would cover gender affirming care services. If finalized the rule could lead insurers to drop coverage or shift costs to individu...

Our new piece examines a CMS proposal that would change how ACA plans cover gender affirming care, likely making these services harder to access and/or more expensive. www.kff.org/private-insu... with @mattrae.bsky.social and Kaye Pestaina

What Does the Federal Government Spend on Health Care? | KFF As Congressional Republicans and President Trump search for trillions of dollars in cuts to mandatory federal spending that could help offset the cost of extending expiring tax cuts, this brief analyz...

As Congress considers making significant cuts to federal spending, we @kff.org take a look at how much federal support $ goes to health programs like Medicaid, Medicare, and the ACA

www.kff.org/medicaid/iss...

@jcubanski.bsky.social @alicelburns.bsky.social
#healthpolicy #medsky #publichealth

Trump signed an executive order today building on #PriceTransparency. But what should we make of the data already posted? Coincidentally, @kff.org just published an analysis of the Transparency in Coverage data. It's not always easy to make out heads or tails

Challenges with effective price transparency analyses - Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker The Transparency in Coverage (TiC) rule aimed to make healthcare prices easily comparable, but the reported data may pose many barriers to effective analysis.

For all the promise of #pricetransparency using the data is hard. New from the Peterson-@kff.org health system tracker, a user guide on tackling the data, and some not-so-obvious pitfalls

www.healthsystemtracker.org/brief/challe...

What Does the Federal Government Spend on Health Care? | KFF As Congressional Republicans and President Trump search for trillions of dollars in cuts to mandatory federal spending that could help offset the cost of extending expiring tax cuts, this brief…

Great breakdown in this @kff.org post showing where we're spending money on health care and where the damage will be if there are cuts.

What Does the Federal Government Spend on Health Care? buff.ly/43agCMC by @jcubanski.bsky.social @alicelburns.bsky.social @cynthiaccox.bsky.social

Missed this story last night portending something bad for AHRQ

AHRQ fills a hugely important void in the medical and health care research space: it funds work that doesn't map cleanly to a disease, body part, or special population (e.g., older Americans)

www.politico.com/news/2025/03...

Trump signed an executive order today building on #PriceTransparency. But what should we make of the data already posted? Coincidentally, @kff.org just published an analysis of the Transparency in Coverage data. It's not always easy to make out heads or tails

A must read for those interested in health care affordability and pricing transparency

Challenges with effective price transparency analyses - Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker The Transparency in Coverage (TiC) rule aimed to make healthcare prices easily comparable, but the reported data may pose many barriers to effective analysis.

For all the promise of #pricetransparency using the data is hard. New from the Peterson-@kff.org health system tracker, a user guide on tackling the data, and some not-so-obvious pitfalls

www.healthsystemtracker.org/brief/challe...

A Look at Federal Health Data Taken Offline | KFF This post looks at federal government databases with key health data that went offline on Jan. 31, 2025, including several related to HIV, some of which had returned by Feb. 2, 2025. It briefly descri...

A useful rundown of disappeared health data, courtesy of @kff.org (@cynthiaccox.bsky.social @mattrae.bsky.social @jenkatesdc.bsky.social @emmawage.bsky.social @jaredortaliza.bsky.social @lindseydawson.bsky.social)

www.kff.org/policy-watch...

Here is the page to download Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System #yrbs without figuring out the SAS import lines.
asdfree.com/youth-risk-b...

"A work of R is never finished, merely abandoned."

If you are downloading data right now -

I recommend asdfree.com. Anthony Damico has R scripts to download ~50 public surveys, create the survey design and save them locally. If you are an R user this will things go much faster!

Am I Rural? Tool - Rural Health Information Hub Use RHIhub’s Am I Rural? Tool to find out if a location is considered rural based on various definitions of rural, including definitions that are used as eligibility criteria for federal programs.

This is so fun - compare definitions of rurality for any zipcode.
www.ruralhealthinfo.org/am-i-rural

Among subsidized enrollees living in states that use Healthcare.gov, premium payments would have been an average of 93% higher in 2024 without the enhanced tax credits.

www.kff.org/affordable-c...

A Look at Federal Health Data Taken Offline | KFF This post looks at federal government databases with key health data that went offline on Jan. 31, 2025, including several related to HIV, some of which had returned by Feb. 2, 2025. It briefly descri...

NEW from @kff.org: A look at some of the federal datasets & portals taken down and implications for research, policy, & media coverage about health.
@cynthiaccox.bsky.social @lindseydawson.bsky.social @mattrae.bsky.social @emmawage.bsky.social .

www.kff.org/policy-watch...

A Look at Federal Health Data Taken Offline | KFF This post looks at federal government databases with key health data that went offline on Jan. 31, 2025, including several related to HIV, some of which had returned by Feb. 2, 2025. It briefly descri...

NEW: several federal datasets and health surveys came offline on Friday

We @kff.org explain what these data are & how they’re used in interventions to address our nation’s biggest health challenges
@jenkatesdc.bsky.social @mattrae.bsky.social @lindseydawson.bsky.social

www.kff.org/policy-watch...

Thousands of U.S. Government Web Pages Have Been Taken Down Since Friday Federal agencies moved to satisfy Trump’s orders to remove topics like diversity initiatives and “gender ideology.”

More than 8,000 web pages across more than a dozen U.S. government websites have been taken down since Friday afternoon, a New York Times analysis found. The purges have removed information about vaccines, veterans’ care, hate crimes, scientific research and more.

HIV, transgender care, climate change and other federal websites go dark Several CDC pages were taken down by Friday afternoon. Some redirected users to other sections of the site.

HIV, transgender care, climate change and other federal websites go dark www.axios.com/2025/01/31/h...

Adding more to the list of #federaldata #datapurge

A breakdown of the goods we import from Mexico

Rubio foreign aid freeze leads to USAID staff suspensions and contractor terminations Approximately 60 senior staff within USAID have been suspended, leaving the agency without clear leadership, five sources familiar with the internal action told CBS News.

About 50% of USAID global health staff - "roughly 450 technical experts" whose responsibilities cover areas such as HIV/AIDS, maternal and child health, malaria, tuberculosis, and other infectious diseases, have now been fired
www.cbsnews.com/news/rubio-f...

I'm keeping a running list of disappearing federal data in the 🧵 below. If there are others I missed let me know. crampell[at]washpost[dot]com or Signal username crampell.13

I’ve now posted the national data, 2015-2023, in Stata format here. I will add state and district data when I’m able.

www.datalumos.org/datalumos/pr...

Also down: PEPFAR’s data dashboard. (For those not familiar, PEPFAR was started under George W Bush to control the HIV/AIDS pandemic. It’s the largest commitment by any nation to combat a single disease)

The OSF is available for preservation of datasets that need saving.

osf.io

Contact support@osf.io if you need assistance

CDC site scrubs HIV content following Trump DEI policies The federal health agency began removing all content related to gender identity on Friday.

NEW — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is scrubbing HIV-related content from its website as part of Trump's broader effort to wipe out DEI content

www.nbcnews.com/health/healt... by @berkeleyjr.bsky.social @benryanwriter.bsky.social

From a journalist friend: Just spreading the word. The CDC is purging data, so people should archive their favorite CDC datasets today, namely ones around race/ethnic diversity, LGBTQ, and reproductive health. Also health data involving climate. The youth risk behavior survey has already gone down.