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 ...
Opinion
The Commonwealth FundOpinion

Changes to Medicaid Threaten Contraceptive Accessibility

Reliable access to comprehensive contraceptive services in Medicaid has led to lower rates of unintended pregnancy and improved the health and economic well-being of women and their families. However, ...
The Commonwealth Fund

Could Notifications Help Medicare Advantage Beneficiaries Utilize Their Unused Benefits?

Plans extensively market their supplemental benefits; one of four MA enrollees report choosing their plans over traditional Medicare because of them. To learn more, the Commonwealth Fund and SSRS ...
The Commonwealth Fund

How Inflation Rebates Can Curb Drug Price Increases

To discourage price hikes on brand-name drugs, the IRA requires manufacturers to pay inflation rebates to Medicare if prices ...
The Commonwealth Fund

Positive Outliers: How Some Rural Communities Maintain Access to Labor and Delivery Services

In 2024, Texas increased supplemental payments for rural hospitals from $500 to $1,500 per birth, bringing the total compensation per Medicaid birth to $8,100. (For comparison, employer-sponsored ...
The Commonwealth Fund

Millions of Community Health Center Patients to Lose Coverage When Tax Credits Expire

This analysis estimates the impact of the loss of enhanced premium tax credits (ePTC) for marketplace coverage on community ...
The Commonwealth FundOpinion

Rethinking Prior Authorization in Medicare Advantage

Prior authorization can help encourage the efficient use of health care resources but too often, it delays treatment patients ...
The Commonwealth FundOpinion

Reducing or Eliminating the Title X Family Planning Program Would Restrict Contraceptive Access Nationwide

The Title X Family Planning Program provides equitable and reliable access to contraception nationwide and is a critical ...
Commonwealth Fund

State Scorecard on Medicare Performance

Why a State Medicare Scorecard? Medicare, established 60 years ago, provides health care coverage for more than 68 million Americans, including nearly all adults age 65 and older as well as 7 million ...
Commonwealth Fund

What Recent Policy Changes Mean for Immigrant Health Coverage

Historically, immigrants who are “lawfully present” in the United States but not citizens have had access to certain benefits, including financial help to purchase health coverage. This explainer ...
Commonwealth Fund

States Are Planning Their Responses to H.R. 1 Cuts in Medicaid Funding — Will Enrollees Lose Benefits?

Roughly 55 percent of Medicaid enrollees are working full or part time, and a number aren’t eligible for health insurance through their jobs. Read more in an explainer here. Over the next 10 years, ...
Commonwealth Fund

Congress and the Trump Administration’s Efforts to Cut Health Insurance Coverage Will Undermine the Health of the U.S. Workforce

In May 2025, nearly 163 million people in the United States were employed either full or part time. Employer coverage forms the backbone of the health insurance system, but not all working people get ...