This Week

The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.

KFF-New York Times Survey: Immigrants Report Rising Fear, Negative Economic and Health Impacts, and Changing Political Views During the First Year of President Trump's Second Term

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The 2025 Survey of Immigrants, a partnership between KFF and The New York Times, takes an in-depth look at the experiences of immigrants during the first year of President Trump's second term, including their worries related to increased immigration enforcement, their health and economic wellbeing, and the political views and preferences of immigrant voters. The survey paints a portrait of families under strain — where fear of detention and economic instability are negatively impacting immigrants' health and reshaping immigrant families' daily lives and views of U.S. political parties. Learn more →

Findings from the new survey are detailed in three KFF reports and help inform the reporting in a package of news stories released by the New York Times:

Why We Are Stuck with Prior Authorization Review

Prior authorization review frustrates patients and physicians, but we likely can't just eliminate it. In his new column, President and CEO Dr. Drew Altman discusses why, and why the focus is now instead on "doing it smarter." Altman writes: "A proposal to eliminate prior authorization altogether could be the single most tangible and popular health reform idea a candidate could make. But, in our fragmented health system, with no great way to control costs or limit unnecessary care, we seem to be stuck with prior authorization review…and most payers are now trying to 'do prior authorization review smarter.'"

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Timely insights and analysis from KFF staff

"...these findings illustrate how uncertainty about vaccines and autism persists even after decades of research, and how shifts in official language can interact with that uncertainty. Polling shows most people are not firmly committed to false beliefs but remain unsure. At the same time, media monitoring suggests that changes in guidance often become focal points for online narratives framing prior statements as misleading." Read more.

Hagere Yilma
Senior Manager, Health Information and Trust

"These changes would significantly increase immigration officers' discretion in making public charge decisions and could allow them to consider factors that had been excluded under the 2022 rule, including use of health, nutrition, and housing programs such as Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program." Read more.

Samantha Artiga
Vice President
Director for Racial Equity and Health Policy Program

"The issue of health care affordability crosses generations. Recently, the press has focused attention on health care affordability challenges for people with employer and marketplace coverage. The rise in Medicare Part B premiums shows how increases in health care costs affect people with Medicare, too." Read more.

Tricia Neuman
Senior Vice President
Executive Director for Program on Medicare Policy
Senior Advisor to the President of KFF

ICYMI: KFF's Latest on the ACA Enhanced Premium Tax Credits

Health care costs are a major concern for many Americans. If the Affordable Care Act (ACA) enhanced premium tax credits expire, over 20 million people will see their monthly premium payments double next year, on average. Additionally, premiums are increasing for people with employer-sponsored insurance, driven in part by rising inpatient and outpatient costs and the increased use of GLP-1 drugs to treat diabetes and obesity. KFF's latest research, polling, and journalism look at the issues of health care affordability and costs.

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Complaints About Gaps in Medicare Advantage Networks Are Common. Federal Enforcement Is Rare.

Health systems drop out of Medicare Advantage plans all the time. Yet government documents obtained by KFF Health News show that federal regulators rarely warn plans that their networks of health providers are so skimpy they violate legal requirements.

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