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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  • Assessing the Risk of Becoming Uninsured After Leaving a Job: A Look at the Data

    Fact Sheet

    This fact sheet examines the impact of unemployment on health insurance coverage by using data from 2004 to 2007 (before the current recession) to assess the increased risk of becoming uninsured among those who are no longer employed. It finds that more than one-third of individuals who stopped working and left a job that previously provided them with employer-sponsored health insurance became uninsured for six consecutive months or more after leaving their job. By comparison,…

  • Pulling It Together: Repeal

    Perspective

    The House will soon vote to repeal the health reform law, the Senate won’t, and the President would veto it if they did.  So what does a House vote for repeal mean? It is, of course, a campaign promise kept to the political right.  It is also a signal from the Republican leadership that they plan to continue to use opposition to the health reform law as a rallying point for their political base.  Our…

  • The High and Rising Costs Of Health Care: What Can Be Done?

    Event Date:
    Event

    The Alliance for Health Reform, the Kaiser Family Foundation, and several cosponsors held the final event in a three-part series of discussions on costs, the factors driving them up and what (if anything) can be done about them. This briefing and others in the series take an in-depth look at a select few of the most often cited health care cost drivers. This briefing focuses on efforts to improve health and health care at lower…

  • How Do M+C Plans Manage Pharmacy Benefits? Implications for Medicare Reform

    Report

    Understanding how Medicare+Choice (M+C) plans manage their drug benefits may generate important lessons for Medicare. This report, based on interviews with both national and regional managed care firms, provides an in-depth look at how plans have managed their M+C outpatient pharmacy benefits in recent years. Findings show that plans rely on a number of cost management strategies to constrain the growth in drug spending including formularies, tiered-copayments, mail-order benefits, and fixed caps or dollar limits…

  • Making Medicaid Managed Care Work:  An Action Plan for Persons Living with HIV

    Other Post

    Making Medicaid Managed Care Work: An Action Plan for Persons Living with HIV This report, by the National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA) with support from The Kaiser Family Foundation, describes nine key points for people living with HIV to keep in mind when trying to influence the development of a managed care system that will serve them effectively. Senator John Chafee (R-RI), an acknowledged ally of NAPWA, gratefully accepted the report upon its…

  • Pulling It Together: Health IN the Economy

    Perspective

    I am writing this Pulling It Together column about this one chart and its potential interpretations and implications. Source: Key Findings: Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: Election 2008 -- April 2008, Kaiser Family Foundation, April 2008. This chart from our most recent tracking poll shows the economy rising as a political issue and health care falling, with Iraq in the middle. Findings from other polling groups will show the same thing for as long as the economy…

  • Section 9: Prescription Drugs and Mental Health Benefits

    Report

    Exhibit 9.1 Exhibit 9.5 Exhibit 9.2 Exhibit 9.6 Exhibit 9.3 Exhibit 9.7 Exhibit 9.4 Exhibit 9.8 9 There are fewer observations for estimating the average copayment for four-tier drugs compared to other drug types.

  • Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: Election 2008 — March 2007

    Poll Finding

    This Kaiser Family Foundation tracking poll is the first in a new series on the public's views of health reform and the presidential candidates' positions on health care. Through the Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: Election 2008, Kaiser will track changes in the saliency of health as a political and policy priority, what the public’s priorities are for a health reform plan, and whether any candidates are breaking through with the public with their health reform plans…

  • Health Care and the 2004 Elections

    Other Post

    ** Update: For information on health care and the 2008 election, visit www.health08.org. ** Health care issues continue to be important for many Americans and a vital part of the policy debates in Washington and around the country. During an election season, candidates propose and debate their solutions for the pressing policy issues facing their constituents. The 2004 election season is no different and the Kaiser Family Foundation is issuing informational materials on some of…

  • Health Care Agenda for the New Congress

    Poll Finding

    This survey captures the public's attitudes regarding the health care agenda for Bush's second term and the new Congress in 2005. It assesses the relative priority placed on health-care concerns by the American public and also provides insight into public opinion on key issues likely to face the new Congress, such as implementing the Medicare drug law, controlling health care costs, reducing the nation’s uninsured population and reforming the malpractice litigation system. This survey of…