Category: Peterson-KFF

How Financially Vulnerable are People with Medical Debt?

This analysis of government data finds that people with medical debt are much more likely to have other forms of financial distress than those without medical debt, like having no “rainy day” fund, overdrawing a checking account, or relying on costly l…

The Burden of Medical Debt in the United States

This analysis uses government data to examine the burden of medical debt, including variations based on age, race and ethnicity, and health status . It estimates 9% of adults – or roughly 23 million people -owe medical debt, including 11 million who ow…

Health Cost and Affordability Policy Issues and Trends to Watch in 2024

While issues of health care costs and affordability may not be at the forefront of this year’s election issues, they remain a major concern among the public. About a quarter of Americans say they or a family member struggled to pay their medical bills …

How Do Health Expenditures Vary Across the Population?

This slideshow explores the variation in health spending across the population through an analysis of the 2019 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) data. It finds that 5% of the population with the highest health expenditures accounted for nearly ha…

What are the recent trends in employer-based health coverage?

This chart collection presents analysis of data from recent Annual Economic and Social Supplements (ASEC) of the Current Population Survey (CPS) to examine who among non-elderly people has employer-sponsored insurance and which workers are offered and …

What are the Recent Trends in Health Sector Employment

This chart collection takes a deep dive into employment data to analyze how health sector jobs and wages shrank and recovered since the coronavirus pandemic struck in early 2020.

How Has the Federal Process for Surprise Medical Billing Disputes Performed?

This analysis examines the share of out-of-network surprise billing disputes initiated through the federal IDR process in the first year of the No Surprises Act.

How does the quality of the U.S. health care system compare to other countries?

This chart collection compare health outcomes, quality of care, and access to services between the U.S. and peer countries. While inconsistent and imperfect metrics make it difficult to firmly assess system-wide health quality in the U.S., a review of …

How Does U.S. Life Expectancy Compare to Other Countries?

The analysis finds that life expectancy in the U.S. fell by 2.7 years from 2019 to 2021, whereas in peer countries’ life expectancies fell by an average of just 0.2 years in this period. COVID-19 has erased two decades of life expectancy growth in the …

How Much is Health Spending Expected to Grow?

This chart collection explores how health spending is expected to grow in coming years, with a look at growth in prescription drug spending, out-of-pocket spending, and related trends.