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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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How Unaffordable is Health Care and What Can We Do About It?

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On Tuesday, July 21, three experts joined Health Wonk Shop series moderator Larry Levitt in an hour-long discussion of health care affordability. During the discussion, panelists considered affordability from a variety of perspectives, including how to define affordability and the question of affordability for whom, how to measure it, and what can be done to address affordability and the underlying cost of health care.

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  • Average Annual Percentage Change in National Spending for Selected Health Services, 2001-2011

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    Average Annual Percentage Change in National Spending for Selected Health Services, 2001-2011 Download Source Kaiser Family Foundation calculations using NHE data from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Office of the Actuary, National Health Statistics Group, at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/NationalHealthExpendData/ (see Historical; National Health Expenditures by type of service and source of funds, CY 1960-2011; file nhe2011.zip). 

  • Annual Percent Change in Private Health Insurance Expenditures Per Enrollee (Adjusted for Inflation), 1970-2011

    Feature

    Annual Percent Change in Private Health Insurance Expenditures Per Enrollee (Adjusted for Inflation), 1970-2011 Download Source Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Office of the Actuary, National Health Statistics Group, at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/NationalHealthExpendData/ (see Historical; NHE Web tables, Table 21), and CPI data from Bureau of Labor Statistics at ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/special.requests/cpi/cpiai.txt (All Urban Consumers, All Items, 1982-1984=100, Not Seasonally Adjusted, U.S. city average). 

  • Annual Percent Change in National Health Expenditures, by Selected Sources of Funds, 1960-2011

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    Annual Percent Change in National Health Expenditures, by Selected Sources of Funds, 1960-2011 Download Source Kaiser Family Foundation calculations using NHE data from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Office of the Actuary, National Health Statistics Group, at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/NationalHealthExpendData/ (see Historical; National Health Expenditures by type of service and source of funds, CY 1960-2011; file nhe2011.zip). 

  • Annual Increase in National Health Expenditures and Their Share of Gross Domestic Product, 2001-2011

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    Annual Increase in National Health Expenditures and Their Share of Gross Domestic Product, 2001-2011 Download Source Kaiser Family Foundation calculations using NHE data from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Office of the Actuary, National Health Statistics Group, at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/NationalHealthExpendData/ (see Historical; National Health Expenditures by type of service and source of funds, CY 1960-2011; file nhe2011.zip). Gross Domestic Product data from Bureau of Economic Analysis, at http://bea.gov/national/index.htm#gdp (file gdplev.xls).

  • Annual Increase in National Health Expenditures and Their Share of Gross Domestic Product, 1961-2011

    Feature

    Annual Increase in National Health Expenditures and Their Share of Gross Domestic Product, 1961-2011 Download Source Kaiser Family Foundation calculations using NHE data from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Office of the Actuary, National Health Statistics Group, at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/NationalHealthExpendData/ (see Historical; National Health Expenditures by type of service and source of funds, CY 1960-2011; file nhe2011.zip). Gross Domestic Product data from Bureau of Economic Analysis, at http://bea.gov/national/index.htm#gdp (file gdplev.xls). 

  • Visualizing Health Policy: Health Coverage Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA)

    Report

    Related Resources Study Highlights Role of Geography and Plan Shopping Under Medicare Premium Support System Medicare Part D: A First Look at Part D Plan Offerings in 2013 The Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit - An Updated Fact Sheet Online Consumer Guide to Medicare   The latest Visualizing Health Policy infographic is a flowchart illustrating the mechanisms by which people will get health coverage beginning in 2014. Medicare's Role and Future Challenges << Previous Visualizing Health…

  • Health Care on the Brink of the Fiscal Cliff

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    Event

    The Alliance for Health Reform and the Kaiser Family Foundation present a November 16 briefing to discuss the components of this key policy crossroads with a particular emphasis on the implications for health programs and the health care industry. Automatic cuts would not apply to Medicaid, but Medicare providers would experience 2 percent payment cuts. The reductions would likely be larger for discretionary health programs, such as those funded as part of the National Institutes…

  • Snapshots: Premiums, Cost-Sharing and Coverage at Public, Private and Non-Profit Firms

    Issue Brief

    There are important differences in the legal organization and mission of different employers in the United States. In addition to collecting information about premiums and employee cost sharing, the 2012 Employer Health Benefits Survey asked respondents to characterize their ownership structure. Respondents were asked to describe their organization as either a "private firm, including publicly traded companies and privately owned businesses," "a public firm, such as a state or local government agency," or as a "non-profit, such as a…