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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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  • Medicaid Spending Growth Per Enrollee Has Been Slower than Growth in Private Health Spending

    Feature

    Medicaid Spending Growth Per Enrollee Has Been Slower than Growth in Private Health Spending Download Source Urban Institute, 2010. Estimates based on data from Medicaid Financial Management Reports (HCFA/CMS Form 64), Medicaid Statistical Information System (MSIS), and KCMU/HMA enrollment data. Expenditures exclude prescription drug spending for dual eligible benficiaries to remove the effect of their transition to Medicare Part D in 2006  

  • Explaining Health Reform: Eligibility And Enrollment Processes For Medicaid, CHIP and Subsidies in the Exchange

    Issue Brief

    The new health reform law will require most U.S. citizens and legal residents to have health coverage by 2014. It provides new options for coverage by expanding Medicaid eligibility to more low-income people and creating a state-based system of health insurance exchanges through which individuals can purchase coverage, with federal subsidies for many. This brief and accompanying explanatory chart summarize key requirements that states face under health reform to construct coordinated and consumer-friendly enrollment systems…

  • Filling In The Long-Term Care Gaps

    Event Date:
    Event

    At a June 3 hearing of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, Diane Rowland, Executive Vice President of the Kaiser Family Foundation and Executive Director on the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, testified on the key challenges to providing a larger role for private long-term care insurance in financing long-term care for the elderly and people with disabilities. Her testimony coincided with the release of a policy brief on long-term care financing by…

  • A Consumer Guide to Handling Disputes with Your Employer or Private Health Plan

    Report

    Most people get their health care through some form of managed care plan – a health maintenance organization, preferred provider organization, or point-of-service option. Most of the time, people receive the care they need, but the potential exists for disagreements over the services that will be provided or paid for by health plans. Health plans are required to follow state and federal rules for handling their enrollee’s complaints and appeals inside the health plan, known…

  • Snapshots: Compensation for Workers with & without Access to Health Benefits at Work

    Issue Brief

    This paper compares the payroll and benefit compensation of workers that had access to employer-sponsored health benefits at work to that of workers who did not have an insurance offer. Surveys of employers indicate that smaller and lower wage firms are less likely to offer health benefits to workers, but do not provide detailed information about wage and benefit differences for workers with and without an offer of health benefits working in different settings.1 In this Snapshot,…

  • Snapshots: Health Care Spending in the United States & Selected OECD Countries

    Issue Brief

    Health spending is rising faster than incomes in most developed countries, which raises questions about how countries will pay for their future health care needs. The issue is particularly acute in the United States, which not only spends much more per capita on health care, but also has had one of the highest spending growth rates. Both public and private health expenditures are growing at rates which outpace comparable countries. Despite this higher level of spending, the…

  • Snapshots: Illustrating the Potential Impacts of Adverse Selection on Health Insurance Costs in Consumer Choice Models

    Issue Brief

    A current strategy for addressing the cost of health insurance involves consumer-directed health plans (CDHPs). These plans generally are less expensive than more traditional health plan designs, but it is not clear whether the lower costs derive entirely from the new benefit structure or whether some of the savings result because these new arrangements attract a disproportionate share of enrollees in good health who have relatively low health spending. Public discussions of enrollment bias tend…

  • Snapshots: Comparing Projected Growth in Health Care Expenditures and the Economy

    Issue Brief

    The rising cost of health care is much in the news. Health costs continue to grow faster than national income and, despite research indicating that we the get good value for the increased spending, some policy makers and health analysts question whether governments and private employers can continue to finance the level of care that they do today. This paper illustrates the magnitude of savings that would be needed in order to bring health care…

  • Snapshots: Distribution of Out-of-Pocket Spending for Health Care Services

    Issue Brief

    How much people should pay out-of-pocket for health care is a much-debated issue in health policy. New health insurance products with higher out-of-pocket shares are becoming more evident in the private market, and some states are considering ways to increase enrollee financial responsibility in state Medicaid programs.  This paper presents information about current out-of-pocket spending by individuals with the purpose of providing context for future health policy discussions. Current proposals suggest that increasing the amount that…