Health Costs

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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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  • March 30 Web Event: Unsung Heroes: The Crucial Role – and Tenuous Circumstances – of Home Care Workers During the Pandemic

    Event Date:
    Event

    Even as the pandemic took a devastating toll on health care workers and older adults in the United States, many home care workers continued to report to work and provide vital care to vulnerable people despite the health risks to themselves and their own families. KFF’s Kaiser Health News and The John A. Hartford Foundation held an interactive web event on March 30 to examine the crucial roles home care workers have played for families during…

  • COVID-19 Pandemic-Related Excess Mortality and Potential Years of Life Lost in the U.S. and Peer Countries

    Issue Brief

    A new issue brief reviews excess death rates in the U.S. and peer countries by age groups to examine how the pandemic has affected excess mortality rate among younger people. The analysis looks specifically at the excess deaths that arose in 2020 to examine how the age at death during the pandemic has differed between the U.S. and peer nations, and estimates the excess potential years of life lost (a measure of “premature excess death”)…

  • Health Spending for 60-64 Year Olds Would Be Lower Under Medicare Than Under Large Employer Plans

    Issue Brief

    During the presidential campaign, President Biden proposed to lower the age of Medicare eligibility from 65 to 60. This analysis uses claims data for covered medical services from both large employer plans and traditional Medicare to illustrate the potential spending effects of using Medicare payment rates in lieu of higher rates paid by employer plans for people 60-64 who shift from large employer plans to Medicare.

  • Analysis: Half of Emergency Ambulance Rides Lead to Out-of-Network Bills for Privately Insured Patients

    News Release

    About half of emergency ground ambulance rides result in an out-of-network charge for people with private health insurance, potentially leaving patients at risk of getting a surprise bill, a new KFF analysis for the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker finds. Congress last year enacted the “No Surprises Act,” which prohibits most surprise out-of-network bills when a patient receives out-of-network services during an emergency visit or at an in-network hospital without advance notice starting in 2022. However,…

  • Why Drug Price Negotiation Has Staying Power

    From Drew Altman

    In this Axios column, Drew Altman looks beyond Medicare to what’s at stake for employers and workers in the debate about the government negotiating drug prices.

  • The Sleeper Health Cost Policy

    From Drew Altman

    In this Axios column, Drew Altman unpacks President Biden’s recent executive order on promoting competition, exploring its significance for new efforts to control health costs by addressing consolidation in the health care industry.

  • How Build Back Better Would Affect Drug Costs

    Feature

    Provisions in the bill that would lower prescription drug costs and reduce federal drug spending would take effect over the next several years, starting in 2023.

  • The No Surprises Act Begins January 2022: This is What You Can Expect

    News Release

    The “No Surprises Act,” which establishes new federal protections against most surprise out-of-network medical bills when a patient receives out-of-network services during an emergency visit or from a provider at an in-network hospital without advance notice, will take effect next month. A new KFF brief outlines what to expect in 2022, summarizing key provisions that will be implemented. Most adults (2 in 3) say they worry about unexpected medical bills and among privately insured patients,…