The Commonwealth Fund

The State of Rural Primary Care in the United States

Rural Americans face significant barriers to accessing adequate primary care; tailored federal and state programs can help ...
The Commonwealth Fund

How Drugmakers Use the Patent Process to Keep Prices High

Patent reforms could address a problem that’s been driving rising prescription drug costs and create a more competitive ...
The Commonwealth Fund

Without Renewal of Enhanced Premium Tax Credits, Rural Hospital Revenues Will Drop by $1.6 Billion

Enhanced premium tax credits (PTCs), which were established to lower premiums and make health insurance more affordable for ...
The Commonwealth Fund

Lower-Income Kids Are at Higher Risk of Going Unvaccinated

Source: Kristen Kolb, “Lower-Income Kids Are at Higher Risk of Going Unvaccinated,” To the Point (blog), Commonwealth Fund, ...
The Commonwealth FundOpinion

Federal Policy Changes Are Making It Harder to Get COVID Shots at Pharmacies

During the COVID-19 pandemic, pharmacies emerged as critical vaccine access sites, overtaking physicians’ offices, community ...
Commonwealth Fund

Adam Briggs

Description: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) was intended to both increase health insurance enrollment in the United States and improve population health. The ACA resulted in an ...
Commonwealth Fund

The 340B Drug Pricing Program: How It Works and Why It’s Controversial

The 340B Drug Pricing Program was created to improve access to care for low-income and uninsured patients at safety-net hospitals and clinics. Over the years, however, critics have argued that the ...
Commonwealth Fund

The Cost of Eliminating the Enhanced Premium Tax Credits

To help people afford plans sold in the health insurance marketplaces, the Affordable Care Act (ACA, also sometimes called Obamacare) provides low- and middle-income individuals with premium tax ...
Commonwealth Fund

The Federal Rule on Medical Debt

In early January, the outgoing Biden administration finalized a new national standard that bans credit rating agencies from including medical debt on most consumer credit reports. The new rule, which ...
Commonwealth Fund

U.S. Overdose Deaths Remain Higher Than in Other Countries — Trend-Tracking and Harm-Reduction Policies Could Help

Provisional data show that drug overdoses in the United States claimed more than 100,000 lives for a third consecutive year in 2023 — a more than 50 percent jump since 2019. By a substantial margin, ...
Commonwealth Fund

The State of Health Insurance Coverage in the U.S.

An estimated 26 million Americans, or 8 percent of the U.S. population, lacked health insurance in 2023. 1 While the United States still lags countries that have universal coverage, today’s uninsured ...
Commonwealth Fund

Maternity Care Providers and Trainees Are Leaving States with Abortion Restrictions, Further Widening Gaps in Care

Maxine Fuqua, 33 (right), of Wilmar, Ark., is examined by Leia O’Fallon, APRN, with the help of Fuqua’s daughter Kael, 8, during a routine checkup at 29 weeks pregnant at Mainline Health Monticello ...