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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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  • How to Think About Higher Growth in Health-Care Spending

    From Drew Altman

    In this column for The Wall Street Journal's Think Tank, Drew Altman explains that just as we should not have expected historically low rates of health spending increases to continue, we should not dramatize a return to higher rates in coming years.

  • How to Think About Higher Growth in Health-Care Spending

    News Release

    In his latest column for The Wall Street Journal's Think Tank, Drew Altman explains that just as we should not have expected historically low rates of health spending increases to continue, we should not dramatize a return to higher rates in coming years. All previous columns by Drew Altman are available.  

  • At CMS, the Mission Is Broader Than Medicare and Medicaid

    From Drew Altman

    In his latest column for The Wall Street Journal's Think Tank, Drew Altman discusses whether the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' broad new responsibilities implementing the Affordable Care Act and a more proactive approach to Medicare payment signals that it’s time for (another) name change.

  • At CMS, the Mission Is Broader Than Medicare and Medicaid

    News Release

    In his latest column for The Wall Street Journal's Think Tank, Drew Altman discusses whether the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' broad new responsibilities implementing the Affordable Care Act and a more proactive approach to Medicare payment signals that it’s time for (another) name change. All previous columns by Drew Altman are available online.

  • Analysis Estimates 1 in 4 Employers Offering Health Benefits Could Be Affected by the ‘Cadillac Tax’ in 2018 if Current Trends Continue

    News Release

    Share of Potentially-Affected Employers Could Grow to 30% in 2023, 42% in 2028, Analysis Finds New projections from the Kaiser Family Foundation estimate that one in four employers (26%) offering health benefits could be subject to the Affordable Care Act’s tax on high-cost health plans, also known as the "Cadillac plan" tax, in 2018 unless they make changes to their plans. The analysis also estimates that the share of employers potentially affected by the tax…

  • Visualizing Health Policy: Medicare Spending: A Look at Present, Short-Term and Long-Term Trends

    News Release

    This Visualizing Health Policy infographic provides an overview of Medicare spending, including information on current federal spending relative to other government programs (e.g., Social Security) and percent-share of spending across Medicare services, as well as projected Medicare spending over the next decade and beyond. Recent federal spending on Medicare is about a third of Defense and Social Security spending combined. In the short term, Medicare spending per person is expected to be lower relative to…

  • Majority Favors the Affordable Care Act’s Employer Mandate, But Opinion Can Shift When Presented With Pros and Cons

    News Release

    Recent news stories on the heath law did not attract most Americans’ attention, and many are unaware of details and implications of the developments Weeks before the Affordable Care Act’s employer mandate takes effect in January, a new Kaiser Family Foundation tracking poll finds that six in 10 Americans (60%) say they have a favorable view of the provision, which in 2015 requires employers with 100 or more full time workers to offer health coverage…

  • High Health-Care Prices: More Talk Than Action  

    News Release

    In his latest column for The Wall Street Journal's Think Tank, Drew Altman explores how price is the major factor that distinguishes the cost of our health care system from those in other developed nations, yet most efforts in the U.S. to address health-care costs don't focus on price much at all. All previous columns by Drew Altman are available online.

  • Harvard and Growth in Health Care Cost Sharing

    From Drew Altman

    In this column for The Wall Street Journal's Think Tank, Drew Altman explains why recent discussion of Harvard University’s introduction of new health insurance cost sharing measures amounted to “making a mountain out of a mole hill”.

  • Assessing the Performance of the U.S. Health System

    Issue Brief

    Health spending growth has consistently outpaced U.S. economic growth and is higher than medical spending in other wealthy countries. Despite spending more, the United States doesn't have better health outcome in terms of life expectancy, mortality rates and other measures. This brief provides an overview of trends in health costs and the performance of the U.S. health system, including comparisons to countries from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The brief charts growth…