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KFF Health Tracking Poll: Health Care Costs and the Midterms

This KFF poll finds that health care costs continue to top the public’s list of affordability worries, even as concerns about gas prices have risen in recent weeks, with two-thirds of the public expressing worry over affording health care costs. Majorities say health costs will influence their vote this election. Voters favor Democrats on the issue, while Republicans hold an advantage on addressing fraud and abuse.

Affordable care act

ACA Marketplace Survey Feature Image - Website

Cost Concerns and Coverage Changes: A Follow-Up Survey of ACA Marketplace Enrollees

This KFF survey is a follow-up survey of adults who had ACA Marketplace insurance in 2025. The survey examines the cost concerns and coverage changes of Marketplace enrollees following the end of the enhanced premium tax credits and finds that half of returning enrollees say their health care costs are “a lot higher” and most expect to cut back on basic household expenses to afford coverage.

Health System Tracker

What Are the Recent Trends in Employer-Based Health Coverage? Employer-sponsored health insurance is the largest source of health coverage for people under 65, but its reach is uneven.

How Does U.S. Life Expectancy Compare to Other Countries? The life expectancy gap between the U.S. and peer countries decreased from 4.1 years in 2023 to 3.7 years in 2024 as U.S. mortality dropped.

How Does Cost Affect Access to Health Care? In 2024, about 1 in 6 adults reported delaying or not getting healthcare due to cost, including medical or mental health care.

How Does Health Spending in the U.S. Compare to Other Countries? While the U.S. still spends the most in total dollars, eight OECD nations had a higher percentage increase in per-person health spending in 2024.

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  • Explaining Health Care Reform: What is Health Insurance?

    Issue Brief

    A key element in any comprehensive health reform plan is defining what health insurance is and the amount of insurance coverage people will have. There are two components to that coverage: the types of services covered (e.g., physician care, hospitalization, prescription drugs, etc.), and the cost sharing required of enrollees (e.g., the annual deductible, the copayments or coinsurance, and the maximum out-of-pocket costs for a year). The overall approach to reform drives the kinds of…

  • Patients Under Pressure: Profiles of How Families Affected by Cancer Are Faring in the Recession

    Report

    This report by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the American Cancer Society profiles six cancer patients and survivors and the challenges they face to help gauge how the recession and rising unemployment is affecting workers who are most in need of ongoing medical care. The report, "Patients Under Pressure: Profiles of How Families Affected by Cancer are Faring in the Recession," illustrates the kinds of problems such patients face in a recession, including obstacles to…

  • Inside Deficit Reduction: What It Means for Medicare

    Event Date:
    Event

    Proposals to generate Medicare savings abound, from the various commissions recommending change, members of Congress and others. Which proposals will, or should receive serious considerations by the Congressional super committee in its quest to find $1.2 trillion or more in savings by its November 23 deadline? What impact would these changes have on beneficiaries, providers and insurers? Would stakeholders prefer the automatic, but capped, Medicare reductions in the sequester rather than any recommendations on Medicare…

  • Enrollment-Driven Expenditure Growth: Medicaid Spending During the Economic Downturn, FY 2007-2011

    Report

    This report presents data on changes in Medicaid's enrollment and spending between federal fiscal year 2007 and federal fiscal year 2011, a period which includes the worst economic downturn in the United States since the Great Depression of the 1930s. The paper also examines what factors drove Medicaid spending over the period, and concludes that overall spending growth from 2007 to 2011 was driven largely by the enrollment growth that resulted from many people losing…

  • Managed Care Plan Liability: An Analysis of Texas and Missouri Legislation – Report

    Report

    Managed Care Plan Liability: An Analysis Of Texas And Missouri Legislation Patricia A. Butler, JD, DrPH November 1997 Background As increasing numbers of Americans receive health care coverage through managed care plans, public attention has been focused on some of the problems consumers have with such plans. Although most consumers report satisfaction with their plans, some express concern that plans' financial incentives limit access to needed services. For example, some consumers are not referred to…

  • Kaiser Family Foundation/Harvard University National Survey of Americans’ Views on Consumer Protection in Managed Care

    Report

    A survey of 1,204 adults on Americans' views on consumer protections and government regulation of managed care and the President's "Consumer Bill of Rights." The survey was conducted for the Foundation and Harvard University by Princeton Survey Research Associates. Additional questions were asked as part of a national omnibus telephone survey of 1,012 adults between January 8-12, 1998. TOPLINE Download CHARTPACK Download NEWS RELEASE Download

  • External Review of Health Plan Decisions in the States and Medicare – Report

    Report

    External Review of Health Plan Decisions:An Overview of Key Program Features in the States and Medicare External Review of Health Plan Decisions:An Overview of Key Program Features in the States and Medicare Prepared for the Kaiser Family Foundation by:Karen Pollitz, M.P.P., Geraldine Dallek, M.P.H., and Nicole Tapay, J.D.Institute for Health Care Research and Policy, Georgetown University Executive Summary In 1978, the state of Michigan established a system to call on independent medical experts to help…

  • MarketFacts: A Financial Overview of the Managed Care Industry

    Other Post

    A Financial Overview of the Managed Care Industry March 1999 Part 2 Recent HMO Activity After 6 years of steady growth, HMO profits declined in 1994, 1995, and 1996; in 1997, nearly 60 percent of HMOs lost money (Weiss Ratings). Although HMO net income plunged from 1994 through 1997, HMO enroll-ments were up 72% and total revenues rose 77% over that period (Best's Aggregates & Averages HMO, 1998). At the same time, health services companies…

  • Section 10: Plan Funding

    Report

    Exhibit 10.1 Exhibit 10.5 Exhibit 10.2 Exhibit 10.6 Exhibit 10.3 Exhibit 10.7 Exhibit 10.4   10 A self-funded plan is one in which the employer assumes direct responsibility for the costs of enrollees’ medical claims. Employers sponsoring self-funded plans typically contract with a third-party administrator or insurer to provide administrative services for the self-funded plan.

  • The Changing Medicaid Managed Care Market

    Report

    Trends in Commercial Plans' Participation This background paper analyzes the trends in commercial plan participation in the Medicaid market by using a database specifically designed for this purpose. It examines changes from mid-1996 to mid-1997 in the types of full-risk plans serving Medicaid Beneficiaries. It also looks at trends through mid-1998 for the 15 states with the largest number of Medicaid enrollees. Background Paper: : Trends in Commercial Plans' Particpation