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.

Latest News

No Posts to Show

Filter

1,261 - 1,270 of 1,588 Results

  • Per Enrollee Growth in Medicare Spending and Private Health Insurance Premiums (for Common Benefits), 1970-2011

    Feature

    Per Enrollee Growth in Medicare Spending and Private Health Insurance Premiums (for Common Benefits), 1970-2011 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; NHE Web tables, Table 21). 

  • What is behind the recent slowdown in health spending?

    Feature

    This slideshow charts the recent slowdown in health spending in the United States and other industrialized nations. Some possible causes include economic factors and structural changes to the U.S. health system, such as higher cost sharing in private health insurance and lower payments to providers by Medicare and other public programs.

  • New Tracker Monitors the Performance of the U.S. Health System

    News Release

    The Kaiser Family Foundation, in partnership with the Peterson Center on Healthcare, today announced a new online hub dedicated to monitoring and assessing the performance of the U.S. health system. The Peterson-Kaiser Health System Tracker provides comprehensive data on how the system is performing on critical quality and cost measures, offering clear, up-to-date information on relevant trends, drivers and issues. The Tracker also will illustrate how the United States is performing relative to other countries,…

  • How do mortality rates in the U.S. compare to other countries?

    Feature

    This slideshow compares mortality rates in the United States and other industrialized countries for seven major causes of death. The data show that U.S. mortality rates for circulatory diseases and cancer have fallen in the past 30 years, driving a decline in the nation's overall rate. However, mortality rates for leading causes of death other than cancer are higher in the United States than the average for comparable countries.

  • New Study Provides Insight and Analysis to Help Explain the Medicare Spending Slowdown

    News Release

    Medicare, the federal health program that provides health care and coverage to 54 million seniors and younger adults with permanent disabilities, is in the midst of an unprecedented slowdown in spending growth.  A new issue brief from the Kaiser Family Foundation, How Much of the Medicare Spending Slowdown Can be Explained? Insights and Analysis from 2014, examines the factors that help explain why Medicare is on track to spend an estimated $580 billion in 2014,…

  • How do U.S. healthcare prices and use compare to other countries?

    Feature

    In general, people in the United States use the health system less than people in comparable countries, and services in the U.S. are consistently more expensive than in countries of similar size and wealth. This slideshow examines price and utilization of several healthcare services, including magnetic resonance imaging, caesarian sections, angioplasty surgery and coronary bypass surgery, through data from the International Federation of Health Plans and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

  • New Policy Insight Examines Medical Debt Among Insured Consumers

    News Release

    In this new policy insight, Kaiser Family Foundation Senior Fellow Karen Pollitz explores how high cost sharing in health insurance plans can contribute to an individual’s medical debt, and explains how greater transparency in plan details could help consumers avoid some financial pitfalls. Medical Debt Among Insured Consumers: The Role of Cost Sharing, Transparency, and Consumer Assistance also provides an update on provisions of the Affordable Care Act meant to increase health plan transparency and…