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“...the search for a single top issue through polling questions — whether it’s health costs, or gas prices, or the cost of food — is artificial. People worry about and experience these costs together. There is no top issue, unless that issue is the catchall, ‘cost of living.’” — Drew Altman, KFF Founding President and CEO

Are Health Care Costs THE Top Issue for Voters?

In a new column, Dr. Drew Altman, Founding President and CEO, analyzes the polling on health costs as a voting issue and concludes that there is no one top voting issue. He writes: “I have come to the conclusion that the search for a single top issue through polling questions—whether it’s health costs, or gas prices, or the cost of food—is artificial. People worry about and experience these costs together. There is no top issue, unless that issue is the catchall, “cost of living.”

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  • 2006 Kaiser/Hewitt Retiree Health Benefits Survey

    Report

    The 2006 Kaiser/Hewitt survey of large businesses that provide retiree health benefits to their workers assesses their evolving responses to the new Medicare drug benefit in 2006. It also looks at the rising costs and changing benefits of retiree health coverage overall in 2006, as well as the outlook for 2007 and beyond. The Kaiser/Hewitt study, the fifth joint survey since 2002, analyzes responses from a non-probability sample of 302 businesses with 1,000 or more…

  • How Private Health Coverage Works: A Primer – 2008 Update

    Issue Brief

    How Private Health Coverage Works: A Primer— 2008 Update This primer explains the role and operations of private health coverage in the United States. Private health coverage is provided under a variety of different arrangements, including health insuring organizations regulated under state law and health plans sponsored by employers and employee organizations that operate under the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). The primer discusses the fundamental aims of private health coverage and sorts out…

  • President Obama’s Campaign Position on Health Reform and Other Health Care Issues

    Issue Brief

    During the 2008 Presidential campaign now President Barack Obama announced a comprehensive health care reform proposal and laid out his positions on a number of other key health care issues. The two documents below summarize these campaign policies and positions. They were prepared by the Kaiser Family Foundation with the assistance of Health Policy Alternatives, Inc., and are based on information compiled from Obama's campaign Web site, speeches, campaign debates and news reports. They are…

  • Managing Costs and Improving Care: Team-based Care of the Chronically Ill

    Event Date:
    Event

    Treating those with multiple chronic conditions, including the elderly and disabled populations, accounts for 30 percent of total U.S. health care spending. Half of this amount is spent by Medicare and Medicaid on behalf of beneficiaries eligible for both programs. This briefing, cosponsored by the Alliance for Health Reform and The Commonwealth Fund, looked at ways to improve the quality of care for the chronically ill while reducing the growth in spending for their care.…

  • Pharmaceutical Policy and Pricing: Are Other Countries Getting Greater Value?

    Event Date:
    Event

    Spending on prescription drugs in the U.S. rose at a faster clip in 2009 than spending for hospital and physician care, a trend that is expected to continue through 2020. The desire to get a handle on drug spending is a focus not only in the U.S. but in other countries as well. What are some strategies used in our country and in the UK, Germany and France to control pharmaceutical spending? How well are…

  • Pulling it Together: Reflections on This Year’s Four Percent Premium Increase

    From Drew Altman

    Our 2012 Employer Health Benefits Survey found a 4% increase in premiums this year, continuing the recent trend of moderation in health costs and spending reported in several studies. Double digit increases in premiums were once a common occurrence, but we have not seen any since a 10% increase in 2004 and 13% growth in 2003. Rates of increase in total health spending have been holding at 4-6% per year recently, and per capita spending…

  • New Report Looks at Health Care Trends in California Compared to Rest of Nation

    Report

    A new chartbook by the Kaiser Family Foundation shows that on most, though not all indicators, California's health care system fares poorly when compared to the U.S. as a whole. The report, Health Care Trends and Indicators in California and the United States, shows that many more Californians have no health insurance than in the rest of the U.S., but when they do have insurance it tends to be more comprehensive and cost less than…

  • National Survey of Small Businesses

    Report

    A survey finds that two-thirds of small employers say that they are dissatisfied with the cost of health care and health insurance, and about one-third of small businesses that now offer insurance say they are likely to increase the share of costs borne by employees in the next year. Survey Highlights and Chart Pack Toplines/Survey

  • Medicare Prescription Drugs Through Private Drug-Only Plans: A Discussion with Actuaries

    Report

    Central to the current debate over Medicare prescription drug coverage is the role of private insurance plans in providing drug benefits to Medicare beneficiaries. This report offers views from health actuaries knowledgeable about the Medicare program and the prescription drug debate on key issues that emerge for potential plan sponsors, such as insurers and PBMs, in providing prescription drug benefits to Medicare beneficiaries through private, drug-only plans. The views of the actuaries were obtained through…