Health Costs

The MIDTERMS

KFF Health Tracking Poll: MAHA and the Midterms

Chemical food additive and pesticide concerns associated with the Make America Health Again (MAHA) movement are shared broadly across the public. But when it comes to voters, health care costs are a higher priority and bigger motivator, even among MAHA supporters, a new KFF Health Tracking Poll finds. When asked to identify their most important health priority for government to address, far more MAHA-supporting voters identify lowering the cost of health care (42%) than other issues more closely associated with the movement.

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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1,291 - 1,300 of 1,588 Results

  • 2001 Retiree Health and Prescription Drug Coverage Survey-6020

    Report

    2001 Retiree Health and Prescription Drug Coverage Survey This survey, released by the Kaiser Family Foundation, The Commonwealth Fund, and HRET, profiles retiree health coverage for Medicare-age (65+) retirees, including the amount retirees pay for coverage compared to active workers, cost-sharing for prescription drugs, and eligibility requirements for retiree benefits. The survey is based on the annual KFF/HRET Employer Health Benefits Survey News Release: New Survey Shows Retiree Health Benefits Continue to Decline Chart Pack

  • National Survey on Consumers’ Experiences With Patient Safety and Quality Information

    Poll Finding

    National Survey on Consumers' Experiences With Patient Safety and Quality Information This survey assesses Americans' perceptions about the quality of health care, their awareness and reported usage of information in making their health care choices, and their experiences with their health care providers five years after the Institute of Medicine's landmark report on medical errors. The Kaiser Family Foundation, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the Harvard School of Public Health collaborated on…

  • National Survey on Consumers’ Experiences With Patient Safety and Quality Information — Summary and Chartpack

    Poll Finding

    National Survey on Consumers' Experiences With Patient Safety and Quality Information -- Summary and Chartpack This chartpack summarizes key findings from a national survey assesses Americans' perceptions about the quality of health care, their awareness and reported usage of information in making their health care choices, and their experiences with their health care providers five years after the Institute of Medicine's landmark report on medical errors. The Kaiser Family Foundation, the Agency for Healthcare Research…

  • Data Note: Voters Views of the Economy: What’s Health Care Got to Do With It?

    Poll Finding

    Voters frequently cite the economy as a key issue in determining their preferences in any given election. At the same time, many people report that they are very worried about the rising costs of health care, naming it as a top personal concern. This Public Opinion Data Note focuses on how much the two points are related, and to what extent concerns about health care costs drive impressions about the economy as a whole. When…

  • Health Care: Squeezing The Middle Class With More Costs and Less Coverage

    Event

    Health Care: Squeezing The Middle Class With More Costs and Less Coverage Diane Rowland, executive vice president of the Foundation and executive director of the Foundation's Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, testified to the U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means about the economic challenges of rising health care costs and growing gaps in health coverage facing middle class families. Testimony (.pdf)

  • Pulling it Together: Business and Health Care Costs

    Perspective

    Hidden away on page 218 of our annual Employer Health Benefits Survey is a table that shows what employers think of the main strategies they have to control health care costs.  More specifically, the table shows what the person in the firm responsible for its health benefits thinks, which is whom we survey.  The short answer is, employer confidence in their own ability to control costs is not high. Not more than about a quarter…

  • Impact of Potential Changes to ERISA: Litigation and Appeals Experience of CalPERS, Other Large Public Employers and a Large California Health Plan – Report

    Report

    Impact of Potential Changes to ERISA: Litigation and Appeal Experience of CalPERS, Other Large Public Employers and a Large California Health Plan June 1998 By Coopers & Lybrand L.L.P.Sandra Hunt, M.P.A.John Saari, M.A.A.A.Kelly Traw, J.D. Background The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) currently preempts state law related to the wrongful denial or delay of health benefits to the extent that such laws relate to a health benefit plan sponsored by a private employer. This…

  • Health Care Costs and Election 2008

    Issue Brief

     Download PDF KEY FACTS ON HEALTH CARE COSTS Health spending in the United States is an estimated $2.4 trillion in 2008, an average of $7,868 per person The share of the economy (GDP) devoted to national health spending has increased from 7.2% in 1970 to an estimated 16.6% in 2008 Eighteen percent of the nonelderly were in families that spent over 10% of their disposable on out-of-pocket health care premiums and cost sharing in 2004.…

  • Update on Individual Health Insurance

    Report

    This report provides information about the individual health insurance market using data from the largest vendor of this type of insurance, eHealthInsurance. The report includes who is buying individual insurance, what they are actually paying for the insurance, and buying patterns. It is the first in an up-coming series of reports jointly produced by the Kaiser Family Foundation and eHealthInsurance to provide trend information in such areas of interest as premiums and cost sharing, and…