Category: health costs

How has the Burden of Chronic Diseases in the U.S. and Peer Nations Changed Over Time?

Chronic, non-communicable diseases are the leading cause of death worldwide and make up 8 of the 10 top causes of death in the U.S. Across several chronic diseases, the U.S. has a higher burden of illness than peer nations. The reasons why are complex …

The Effect of Delaying the Selection of Small Molecule Drugs for Medicare Drug Price Negotiation

In a new Trump administration executive order, the Secretary of HHS is directed to work with Congress to implement a change in law to delay negotiation of so-called “small molecule” drugs under the Inflation Reduction Act’s Medicare Drug Price Negotiat…

10 Things to Know About Rural Hospitals

This brief explores data about rural hospitals’ financial health and stability at a time when Congress is considering potential federal budget cuts. It examines the prevalence of rural hospitals, their characteristics and finances, federal support for …

How Does Health Spending in the U.S. Compare to Other Countries?

This chart collection compares health care spending in the U.S. and other industrialized countries, including data on health spending per person and the growth rate in recent years and over time.

Health Spending Issues to Watch This Year

KFF and the Peterson Center on Healthcare examine market trends contributing to rising health costs and identify several potential federal and state policy issues to watch throughout 2025, including high-cost drugs, federal funding cuts, and workforce …

Navigating the Maze: A Look at Patient Cost-Sharing Complexities and Consumer Protections

This brief focuses on consumers’ understanding of health insurance costs and examines existing federal protections that seek to address barriers to understanding the cost of coverage and care, such as price transparency, self-service price estimator to…

New Rule Proposes Changes to ACA Coverage of Gender-Affirming Care, Potentially Increasing Costs for Consumers

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 individuals and states, making access to gender affirming ca…

A Backlash Against Health Insurers, Redux

In this JAMA Health Forum post, Executive Vice President Larry Levitt recalls the mid-1990s’ public backlash against Health Maintenance Organizations (commonly known as HMOs) – all of which preceded the recent outpouring of health insurance concerns –…

Challenges with Effective Price Transparency Analyses

Promoting price transparency in health care is a policy approach with bi-partisan support in Congress and the public at large. This analysis examines the vast troves of price transparency data that payers are required and finds unlikely prices, inconsi…

Key Facts About Hospitals

This analysis presents key facts about hospitals with more than 40 charts related to national spending on hospital care, characteristics of the hospital industry, rural hospitals, use of hospital care, out-of-pocket spending and medical debt, hospital …