Kaiser Family Foundation

Current activities

Policy analysis and polling

KFF publishes analysis, polling and journalism about health-care issues, and states that much of its work especially concerns persons with low income or those who are otherwise especially vulnerable to health-care cost, such as the uninsured, those with chronic illnesses, or Medicaid/Medicare recipients. In addition to domestic U.S. health policy issues, KFF also conducts work on the U.S. role in global health policy.

In 2010, KFF began providing resources for consumers seeking information about the then new health insurance law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. These resources included a series of animated videos explaining the health law and health insurance terms as well as a calculator for people to estimate what health insurance coverage would cost them.

In early 2020 its analysis and polling focused heavily on the COVID-19 pandemic.

KFF is also well known for public opinion research, documenting the views and experiences of the public on health and related issuesoften in partnership with major news organizations, such as The Washington Post and The New York Times.

Health news and information

KFF Health News

As one of the core programs of KFF, KFF Health News focuses on coverage of health care policy and politics. KFF Health News provides coverage of health policy issues and developments at the federal and state levels in the health care marketplace and health care delivery system. It was formerly known as Kaiser Health News (KHN), but was renamed in April 2023 to communicate its ownership by KFF.

In 2020 and 2024, KFF Health News reporters were finalists for a Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting for exposing how the Social Security Administration routinely reduced or suspended monthly checks to take back funds to pay off large debts that were often created by its own miscalculation of people’s benefits, and for exposing predatory bill collection by the University of Virginia Health System that squeezed low-income patientsmany into bankruptcyforcing the non-profit, state-run hospital to change its tactics.

Health Information and Trust Initiative

In 2023, KFF launched the Health Information and Trust Initiative for tracking health misinformation in the U.S, analyzing its impact on the American people, and mobilizing media to address the problem.

Past initiatives

KFF formerly sponsored training and site visits for health care reporters.

KFF previously worked with major media and corporate partners, government agencies and health departments, national leadership and community organizations, and other partners to create large-scale public information campaigns on pressing health and social issues, mostly on HIV/AIDS, most notably, the Greater Than HIV, Greater than Covid, and Get Yourself Tested campaigns.

History

KFF was established in 1948 as the Kaiser Family Foundation by Henry J. Kaiser. The organization was set up in Oakland, California, the same city in which Kaiser Permanente's headquarters were located. Later, KFF moved to Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park, about 35 miles away from Oakland. In 2018, it relocated to San Francisco, CA.

When Kaiser died in 1967, his second wife, Alyce Chester, inherited half of his estate, and the other half went to the KFF. Alyce sold all of her holdings, moved far away, and remarried. Mr. Kaiser's children received very little direct inheritance; but did receive authority to run the Kaiser Industries businesses, and the Kaiser Family Foundation.

In 1977, ten years after Kaiser's death, the conglomerate of disparate Kaiser Industries organizations split apart. The Kaiser Family Foundation was initially a major owner of these shares: at the time of dissolution, the foundation owned 32 percent, according to Fortune Magazine.

By 1985, the foundation no longer had an ownership stake in the Kaiser companies and was no longer associated with Kaiser Permanente or Kaiser Industries. KFF is now an independent national organization with a Board of Trustees that have backgrounds in public service, academia, nonprofits, health care, and media.

Starting in September 1990, KFF CEO Drew Altman directed "a complete overhaul of the Foundation's mission and operating style." Altman changed a "sleepy grant-making organization" (some $30 million a year interest on the $400 million endowment), into a leading voice and repository for facts and information on health-care issues, remaking the organization by establishing new programs, recruiting staff, becoming an operating foundation and then later, a public charity.

Notable members of the board of trustees

• Kathleen Sebelius, former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services
• Olympia Snowe, former U.S. Senator
• Soledad O'Brien, American journalist
• Kevin Merida, American journalist

References

John G. Smillie, M.D. "Can Physicians Manage the Quality and Costs of Health Care? - The Story of the Permanente Medical Group." 1991 - see http://xnet.kp.org/permanentejournal/sum01/PermMedBook.html

Albert Heiner "Henry J. Kaiser: Western Colossus" 434 pages - Halo Books (August 1991) - Product Description - "Through a good portion of Kaiser's career Al Heiner was there - as a public relations officer for Kaiser Steel but also as an eyewitness to mainy of the events ..."

References

1. (15 November 2016). "Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation".
2. "About Us".
3. "More About KFF".
4. (December 31, 2013). "Presenting the third annual Wonky awards". The Washington Post.
5. (April 18, 2010). "Spreading the health". Los Angeles Times.
6. (8 April 2010). "Our Programs".
7. (November 13, 2014). "Insurance Lingo Boggles Consumers". Health News Florida.
8. (November 13, 2014). "Use newly updated calculator to see if you qualify for Obamacare subsidy to buy insurance in 2015". AL.com.
9. (June 2017). "Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation rural and small-town America poll". [[The Washington Post]].
10. (April 23, 2014). "Full Results of The New York Times/Kaiser Family Foundation Poll". [[The New York Times]].
11. "About Us".
12. "Kaiser Health News: A Model of Symbiosis". TVWeek.com News Pro.
13. "About Us".
14. "Finalist: KFF Health News and Cox Media Group". Pulitzer.
15. "Finalist: Jay Hancock and Elizabeth Lucas of Kaiser Health News". Pulitzer.
16. "KFF's New Health Misinformation and Trust Initiative".
17. (March 16, 2024). "Health Misinformation Is Evolving. Here's How to Spot It.". The New York Times.
18. (June 23, 2014). "A reminder that not everyone loves more transparency for health-care prices". The Washington Post.
19. (3 March 2015). "Media Internships & Fellowships".
20. (June 13, 2013). "Walgreens and Greater Than AIDS Team with Health Departments and Local AIDS Service Organizations to Provide Free HIV Testing in Support of National HIV Testing Day".
21. "Greater Than HIV".
22. "The Conversation: Between Us About Us".
23. "GYT: Get Yourself Tested Campaign". Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
24. "GYT: Get Yourself Tested (United States)". World Economic Forum.
25. "POLITICO Pulse". Politico.
26. (February 1977). "The Kaisers and Their Empire". [[Fortune Magazine]].
27. Donna K.H. Walters. (August 4, 1985). "An Empire Fades Away, But Its Legacy Lingers On; Final Chapter Is Being Written for What Once Was West's Greatest Industrial Power". Los Angeles Times.
28. "Board of Trustees".
29. (November 2, 2009). "Health care? He's got it covered.". The Washington Post.
30. "President's Message".