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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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  • Beneficiaries Who Switch to Medicare Advantage Have Lower Medicare Spending and Use Fewer Services – In the Prior Year – Than Those Who Stay in Traditional Medicare

    News Release

    Medicare Advantage plans gain beneficiaries from traditional Medicare who have lower average spending and use fewer health services than similar beneficiaries who choose to remain in traditional Medicare, according to a new KFF analysis. The analysis finds that people who switched from traditional Medicare to Medicare Advantage in 2016 had health spending in 2015 that was $1,253 less, on average, than the average spending for beneficiaries who remained in traditional Medicare (after adjusting for health…

  • New Analysis Compares Prescription Drug Spending and Use Across Large Employer Plans, Medicare, and Medicaid

    News Release

    As policymakers debate how to address the high cost of prescription drugs, a new KFF analysis compares data on prescription drug spending and use across large employer plans, Medicare Part D and Medicaid, and provides context for policy discussions about different approaches to curb rising drug costs that would affect people covered by each of the three major payers. The data show that private insurers, Medicare and Medicaid account for 82 percent of retail prescription…

  • Voters Are Tuning Out the Health Care Debates

    From Drew Altman

    In this Axios column, Drew Altman reports on new KFF focus groups with voters. They show voters are focused on the problems they have paying for care and navigating the health system, but have yet to tune in on the health proposals being made by candidates and elected officials, and don’t see them as relevant to their problems. 

  • Short-Term Health Insurance Plans Charge Less than Half as Much in Premiums as ACA Plans By Excluding Pre-Existing Conditions and Severely Limiting Benefits

    News Release

    Short-term health insurance plans offer a trade-off for consumers: substantially lower premiums than plans that comply with the Affordable Care Act, but much less protection if they get sick and need care. Just how much cheaper are the premiums and what are consumers giving up to get them? A new KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation) analysis finds short-term plans are able to charge premiums 54 percent lower than ACA-compliant plans, by excluding pre-existing conditions and severely…

  • 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…

  • Kaiser Family Foundation/Harvard University School of Public Health: Update on Americans’ Views on the Consumer Protections Debate

    Poll Finding

    Kaiser Family Foundation/Harvard University School of Public Health: Update on Americans' Views on the Consumer Protections DebateThe Kaiser Family Foundation/Harvard University School of Public Health Update on American's Views on Consumer Protections in Managed Care is based on findings from the April 1999 Kaiser/Harvard Health News Index. The survey was designed and analyzed by researchers at the Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard University. Nationwide interviews were conducted by telephone with 1,200 adults, 18 years and…

  • Beneath the Averages: An Analysis of Medicare and Private Expenditures

    Report

    This report compares Medicare and private health insurance per capita spending between 1970 and 1997, demonstrating that Medicare has done better or as well as the private sector in controlling the growth in health spending. Using National Health Expenditure accounts data, the analysis reveals the cumulative increase in per capita health care spending was lower for Medicare than the private sector between 1970 and 1997. Medicare most likely maintained its cumulative advantage, due to the…

  • Managed Care And Low-Income Populations: A Case Study of Texas

    Report

    This study is part of a larger initiative, funded by both the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and The Commonwealth Fund. Case studies of seven states that are restructuring their health care systems for the Medicaid and uninsured populations: California, Florida, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, Tennessee, and Texas, are designed to provide early insights and timely analyses that will help states and other efforts shape rapidly evolving managed care systems and health reform programs for…