Category: Coronavirus (COVID-19)

2021 Employer Health Benefits Survey

This annual survey of employers provides a detailed look at trends in employer-sponsored health coverage, including premiums, worker contributions, cost-sharing provisions, offer rates, and more. This year’s report also looks at how employers changed t…

Average Family Premiums Rose 4% This Year to Top $22,000; Employers Boost Mental Health and Telemedicine amid COVID-19 Pandemic, Benchmark KFF Survey Finds

Annual family premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance rose 4% to average $22,221 this year, according to the 2021 benchmark KFF Employer Health Benefits Survey released today. On average, workers this year are contributing $5,969 toward the co…

Nov. 10 Web Briefing to Release the 2021 Employer Health Benefits Survey Capturing Trends in Offer Rate, Premiums, Cost Sharing and Benefit Changes Related to COVID-19

KFF will release its 2021 benchmark Employer Health Benefits Survey via a public web briefing on Wednesday, Nov. 10 at 1 p.m. ET. This 23rd annual survey provides a detailed look at the current state of employer-based coverage and trends in private hea…

COVID-19 preventable mortality

This updated analysis estimates that nationally at least 234,000 deaths from COVID-19 between June 2021 and March 2022 could have been prevented with a primary series of vaccinations. These vaccine-preventable deaths represent 60% of all adult COVID-19…

How does U.S. life expectancy compare to other countries?

This slideshow compares life expectancy in the U.S. and other nations. The data shows that life expectancy at birth is lower in the U.S. than other industrialized countries for both women and men. The life-expectancy gap between the U.S. and other co…

The Changing Costs of Covid Care

In this commentary for Barron’s, Cynthia Cox explores the impact to the American public as the U.S. health insurance system adjusts to the COVID-19 pandemic. She uses the experience of the past year and a half to raise questions about broader issues of…

Preventable Costs of Unvaccinated COVID-19 Patients Rise Sharply in August as Hospitalizations Surge

A surge in COVID-19 hospitalizations among people who have not been vaccinated in August is adding billions of dollars in preventable costs to the nation’s health-care system, an updated KFF analysis finds. In August, the new analysis estimates that th…

COVID-19 continues to be a leading cause of death in the U.S. in August 2021

With the rapid uptake in vaccinations in recent months, COVID-19 deaths have fallen sharply. COVID-19 is now the seventh leading cause of death in the U.S. This updated analysis looks at the pandemic’s effect on mortality rates.

Unvaccinated COVID patients cost the U.S. health system billions of dollars

This updated analysis for the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker estimates that the preventable costs of treating unvaccinated patients in hospitals total $13.8 billion during the six-month period from June through November when the delta variant led t…

Most private insurers are no longer waiving cost-sharing for COVID-19 treatment

This analysis finds nearly three quarters of the largest health plans in each state are no longer waiving enrollees’ cost-sharing requirements for COVID-19 treatment as of August 2021. Insurers largely waived those costs early in the pandemic, before s…