Home Health Costs Topics

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

More KFF Health News

Stay informed.

Get KFF's latest on Health Costs

Stay informed.

Get KFF's latest on Health Costs

View the Latest: Health Costs

Filter

List Grid

1,281 - 1,290 of 1,588 Results

  • How Much Could Medicare Beneficiaries Pay For a Hospital Stay Related to COVID-19?

    Issue Brief

    As the coronavirus continues to spread, the number of people on Medicare admitted to the hospital for COVID-19 related illness is expected to rise. We analyze how much Medicare beneficiaries could pay out-of-pocket for an inpatient hospital admission under traditional Medicare (assuming no supplemental coverage) or Medicare Advantage plans.

  • How Prepared is the U.S. to Respond to COVID-19 Relative to Other Countries?

    Issue Brief

    Compared to most similarly large and wealthy countries, the U.S. has fewer practicing physicians per capita but has a similar number of licensed nurses per capita. Looking specifically at the hospital setting, the U.S. has more hospital-based employees per capita than most other comparable countries, but nearly half of these hospital workers are non-clinical staff.

  • Visualizing Health Policy: US Public’s Perspective on Prescription Drug Costs

    News Release

    This Visualizing Health Policy infographic examines public opinion on prescription drug costs in the United States (US). Over the past 20 years, US drug spending has increased by 330% compared to a 208% increase in total US health expenditures. A large majority (78%) of the public see drug company profits as the top contributor to higher health care spending. Lowering drug costs is the public’s top health policy priority for the US Congress.  While most…

  • Tracking the Role of Health Care in the 2020 Election: What Do The Polls Tell Us

    Perspective

    In this February 2020 post for The JAMA Health Forum, Mollyann Brodie and Ashley Kirzinger examine the role health care has played in the primary election to date, what the polling data says about the issue, including Medicare-for-all and a public option, and what to expect from the issue during the rest of the 2020 election campaign.

  • Surprise Bills Often Hit in Emergencies

    From Drew Altman

    In an Axios column, Drew Altman previews new data highlighting that people with critical health issues are especially vulnerable to these bills. 

  • Poll: Most Democrats Prefer a Presidential Candidate Who Wants to Build on the Affordable Care Act

    News Release

    The latest KFF Health Tracking Poll probes Democrats’ views about the general approaches to expanding health coverage and lowering costs put forward by the candidates. Most Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents (55%) say they prefer a candidate who would build on the Affordable Care Act to achieve those goals. Fewer (40%) prefer a candidate who would replace the ACA with a Medicare-for-all plan. Even among those who prefer a candidate who would replace the ACA with…

  • Puerto Rico: Datos Básicos

    Fact Sheet

    Puerto Rico: Datos Básicos provee una descripción general del las características demográficas, y estadísticas de salud y la economía. También se da alguna informacion del gobierno, reglas federales de Medicaid, y asuntos corrientes que estan afectando el territorio, incluyendo a Zika.

  • 8 Questions & Answers about Puerto Rico

    Fact Sheet

    These slides provide a quick snapshot of Puerto Rico’s population, as well as current and upcoming issues that are impacting the island’s health care system.