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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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  • Medical Malpractice Law in the United States

    Report

    In recent years, medical malpractice law and insurance have become popular topics for debate in Washington, DC and around the country. This report provides an overview of the issues surrounding medical malpractice law, including the legal changes that states have made over the past thirty years in response to periodic concerns about rising medical malpractice costs; some newer proposals for changing medical malpractice law; and trend data for malpractice claims. This report was prepared for…

  • 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…

  • Summary and Chartpack: National Survey of Households Affected by Cancer

    Poll Finding

        These charts highlight data from the National Survey of Households Affected by Cancer conducted jointly by USA Today, the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health by telephone between Aug. 1 and Sept. 14, 2006. The survey provides an in-depth look at how families cope with cancer, and in particular, examines problems of health insurance and health care costs through the lens of those who have experienced this major illness.…

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

    Report

    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 report examines the frequency, nature and costs associated with the appeals and litigation that state and local governmental employers have experienced. Information was gathered through multiple telephone interviews with individuals with extensive involvement in administrative appeals…

  • Managed Care Consumer Protections Offered by Medium and Large Employers

    Fact Sheet

    A fact sheet summarizing data from a survey conducted between January and March of 1998 with 1,583 firms with 200 or more workers. The survey, which is conducted annually, focuses on the characteristics of the health benefit plans sponsored by employers.The supplemental questions discussed in this brief were developed jointly by staff from the Kaiser Family Foundation and KPMG and funded by the Foundation. Fact Sheet Fact Sheet

  • Health Affairs Article: Medicaid Expansion Under Health Reform May Increase Service Use and Improve Access For Low-Income Adults With Diabetes

    Issue Brief

    This analysis finds that Medicaid’s role in financing diabetes care will grow when many low-income uninsured people with diabetes become eligible for Medicaid as the program expansions under the Affordable Care Act in 2014. Adult Medicaid beneficiaries with diabetes had annual per person health expenditures more than three times higher than adult beneficiaries without the disease -- $14,229 versus $4,568, according to the study. At the same time, many uninsured adults with diabetes are less…

  • Medicare Part D Spending Trends: Understanding Key Drivers and the Role of Competition

    Issue Brief

    This brief commissioned by the Foundation examines factors that contributed to Medicare's lower-than-expected spending on prescription drugs under the Medicare Part D drug benefit that started in 2006. Since its launch, Medicare has spent about 30 percent less on Part D benefits than the Congressional Budget Office originally projected. Some cite the program's design, with private plans competing for enrollment, as the driving factor in lower spending; others point to factors in the overall market…

  • Medicare Beneficiaries and HMOs: A Case Study of the Portland Market

    Report

    This case study of the evolution of Medicare managed care in Portland, Oregon, is part of a series of four case studies being prepared for the Kaiser Family Foundation to learn more about the factors influencing, and consequences of, the growth of Medicare managed care. Portland was one of the first markets to implement a Medicare managed care program, with the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan beginning its Medicare HMO in 1978 and all four of…

  • Generation Rx.com: How Young People Use the Internet for Health Information

    Report

    The Internet has become a daily part of life especially for younger Americans. Teens as well as adults are now going online to look for health information. What exactly are young people looking for? Do they trust what they find? Is it influencing what they talk about with their peers, parents, or physicians? Are they worried about privacy? Pornography? Parental controls? A panel featuring Lee Rainie, Director, Pew Internet & American Life Project; Gretchen Berland,…

  • Improving the Financial Accountability of Nursing Facilities

    Report

    This report examines nursing facility expenditures to assess relative spending increases in areas such as nursing services, administrative costs, and profits. Using California as a case study, it explores reimbursement by cost category and a standard medical loss ratio (MLR) as potential policy options to improve nursing facility financial accountability and care quality.