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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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  • Report and Video Highlight Health Coverage Struggles, Other Economic Concerns of Working Families

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    Event

    This report and video from the Kaiser Family Foundation's Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured (KCMU) illustrate the financial struggles of many families in the United States and show the central role of health care costs and coverage in a household's economic stability. The report, Snapshots from the Kitchen Table: Family Budgets and Health Care, is based on interviews with 27 families from six cities across the U.S.. It finds pervasive uncertainty over job security…

  • Preventing Chronic Disease: The New Public Health

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    There is a groundswell of activity in local communities to support healthier lifestyles and help people make long-lasting and sustainable changes that can reduce their risk for chronic diseases. A number of provisions in the health reform law are aimed directly at improving population health by addressing conditions where Americans live, learn, work, and play. Public health agencies across the nation are involved in promoting healthy life styles in their communities and the U.S. Department…

  • The Adequacy of Health Insurance

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    Event

    Testimony by Diane Rowland, executive vice president and executive director of the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, at a congressional hearing, titled “Addressing Underinsurance in National Health Reform,” held Feb. 24, 2009, by a special task force of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Rowland discussed the status of health insurance coverage in America and the gaps and limits to coverage that leave millions of Americans poorly protected…

  • Congressional Testimony on Expanding Health Care Coverage

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    Event

    On May 5, 2009, the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance held a roundtable discussion on health-care coverage issues as part of its health reform efforts. Diane Rowland, the Foundation's Executive Vice President and Executive Director of the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, and Gary Claxton, Foundation Vice President and Director of the Health Care Marketplace Project, participated in the discussion and prepared written testimony at the committee's request. Testimony of Diane Rowland (.pdf)…

  • Pulling it Together: Teaching An Old Dog New Tricks

    Perspective

    Way back in the eighties when I was Human Services Commissioner in New Jersey, I established something called the Garden State Health Plan (GSHP).  It was the first — and I think the only — federally qualified state-run HMO for Medicaid beneficiaries.  One goal of the GSHP was to reallocate the Medicaid dollar, giving more to primary care physicians who at the time were paid $9 for a general office visit, and a little less…

  • Emergency Departments Under Growing Pressure

    Issue Brief

    This issue brief relies on interviews with practicing clinicians to explore the impact of the recession on hospital emergency departments that are under growing pressure as patient volume increases, health coverage declines and medical costs present new challenges to unemployed families. Issue Brief (.pdf)

  • Pulling it Together: A Holiday Reminder on the Economy and Health Care

    Perspective

    With so much of the focus on the political dynamics of the health reform debate and a few hot button issues, I wonder if we have lost track of what propelled health care to the top domestic issue in the first place—people’s concerns about paying for health care in the middle of a deep recession. This gave health greater traction as a national issue and brought us our best chance at national health reform legislation…

  • Explaining Health Care Reform: How Do Health Care Costs Vary By Region?

    Issue Brief

    Although regional variations in health spending have been studied for decades, there is renewed focus on this issue because of the role of health care costs in health care reform and the potential source of funds if addressing cost variations can yield savings. This explainer examines what is known about regional variations in health care costs and their relationship to quality of care, and addresses key questions about their role in health reform. Issue Brief…

  • Patient Cost-Sharing Under the Affordable Care Act

    Report

    Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), four tiers of health insurance will be offered in the health insurance exchanges and throughout the individual and small group markets beginning in 2014. Under the minimum coverage plan, the “Bronze” plan, the insurance plan will pay for 60 percent of the costs of covered benefits on average while the individual enrolled will pay the remaining 40 percent in deductibles, copays and coinsurance. Individuals will have the option to…

  • Summary: National Survey of Enrollees in Consumer-Directed Health Plans

    Poll Finding

    This survey summary provides an in-depth analysis of the National Survey of Enrollees in Consumer-Directed Health Plans conducted between June 21 and July 10, 2006. The survey looks at the views and experiences of people enrolled in consumer-directed health plans as compared to people with traditional health insurance. Survey Summary (.pdf)