Dr. @drewaltman.bsky.social shared more about KFF and what’s ahead:

Following Dr. Altman’s retirement at the end 2026, Larry Levitt will serve as KFF’s CEO and Dr. Mollyann Brodie will serve as President. They bring with them a combined six decades at KFF in senior positions guiding policy research and polling.

After nearly 40 years shaping the health policy landscape, our founding president and CEO Dr. Drew Altman announced he’ll retire at the end of the year. Larry Levitt and Dr. Mollyann Brodie have been appointed by the Board as the new leadership team.

Nothing was certain when I came to California to start KFF with little more than an idea. Now 37 years later, @kff.org is at the height of its effectiveness, and I have the perfect opportunity, thanks to our board, to hand over leadership to Larry Levitt and Molly Brodie next year.

Parts of MAHA can be very influential (think pesticides), but is it a coherent movement or a voting block? More than a name? My column: on.kff.org/4ngGWwO

There are many MAHAs, with many different priorities. They have too many different interests to be a movement or a single voting block. Their top priority is health care costs, like other voters, but their leaders don’t talk about costs much. My new column: on.kff.org/4ngGWwO

Surgeon General and Assistant Secretary of Health were combined in ‘77 under the great Julius Richmond giving the SG much more than a podium, but separated again with the star power of Everett Koop in ‘81. Chief doctor for HHS, for the nation, or both?

I was challenged to write about the problems with the U.S. health system in ONE PAGE (not the reasons for them or the solutions). What would you add/subtract? Remember, one page! My latest column: on.kff.org/4sP7PJe

Remarkable. Even with single payer advocates running, an HHS secretary and the issue on voter’s minds, not a single health question during the televised part of the California governor’s debate. Police 24/7 was more important.

No group is more screwed (in health research speak, faces more barriers to care), than the chronically ill uninsured. I explain in my new column: on.kff.org/4mhgHWk

Two things candidates need to connect with voters on health:   + Convince them they really care about their health care costs + Have a simple, tangible solution voters can understand (even if it doesn’t solve the whole problem and isn’t a comprehensive health reform plan).

Gallup also finds health at the top now. A different take separating health costs from economic concerns and combining “availability” and “affordability,” but however you ask it these days, the public has health costs on their minds.

Today’s new KFF poll. Lots of people are using AI for health information. That’s probably not surprising. What is: many are doing it because they can’t afford medical care.

Why health care affordability will be a top economic issue after the Iran war. My latest column: on.kff.org/4splo2D

People say prior authorization review is their number one problem when they try to get health care. Can we get rid of it? My new column:

This may not last with gas prices rising, but we have not seen it often: health costs are THE top household economic concern, propelled by reality, political debate about ACA tax credits, and media coverage.

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.

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 www.kff.org/from-drew-al...

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

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.

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.

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

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:

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

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

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.

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.

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.

Who are MAHA parents? The breakdown from our poll with the @washingtonpost.com: on.kff.org/477Oo5L

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

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.

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

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 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:

Our tracking polls on health misinformation and trust have found a large muddled middle. Confused and unsure who and what to believe they are up for grabs. Yesterday’s announcement on Tylenol and autism will add significantly to it.

We work hard at @kff.org to be experts who are communicators, too. It’s why I say “communications is everyone’s job” here. A great example today in JAMA from @larrylevitt.bsky.social Levitt — storylines for The Pitt.

Will it add to the seemingly growing pressure to make a deal and extend the enhanced ACA tax credits to learn that - half of all marketplace enrollees work for small businesses or are self employed?

Our poll of parents on vaccines with the Washington Post suggests there may be more blowback than imitation after Florida’s move to eliminate childhood vax requirements. Even 7 in 10 MAGA parents support the requirements (and 82% of FLA parents).

As sources of vaccine info move away from CDC and fragment — to doctors, state health departments, professional societies — this is who the public trusts: