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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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  • Key Findings: Kaiser Health Tracking Poll — February 2009

    Poll Finding

    This document contains the key findings from the February 2009 Kaiser Health Tracking Poll. The survey was conducted February 3 through February 12, 2009, among a nationally representative random sample of 1,204 adults ages 18 and older. Telephone interviews conducted by landline (903) and cell phone (301, including 123 who had no landline telephone) were carried out in English and Spanish. The margin of sampling error for the total sample is plus or minus 3…

  • Snapshots: Health Benefit Offer Rates and Employee Earnings

    Issue Brief

    Employer-provided health insurance is the primary source of insurance coverage in the United States, covering almost 160 million people.1 About 90 percent of the non-elderly privately-insured population is covered by employer-sponsored plans, meaning that employer decisions about whether to offer health benefits will influence overall rates of insurance coverage in the United States.  Sixty-nine percent of all firms offered health benefits to their employees in 2010.2 It is well-known that highly-paid workers are more likely to…

  • Trends in Health Care Costs and Spending

    Fact Sheet

    This fact sheet on health care costs presents key statistics about the growth, level and impact of rising U.S. health care costs. It covers spending on various medical services, sources of health spending, employer-sponsored health coverage and the impact on businesses and people. Fact Sheet (.pdf)

  • Webcast: New CMS Estimates of State-by-State Health Expenditures

    Event Date:
    Event

    The Kaiser Family Foundation held a live interactive webcast on December 7, 2011, to discuss trends in state health care expenditures and the implications for national and state efforts to constrain health care costs. The webcast examines new state-by-state estimates of public and private health spending from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published in the online journal, Medicare and Medicaid Research Review. An expert panel offers perspectives on the trends within and…

  • Massachusetts Health Care Reform: Six Years Later

    Issue Brief

    In 2006, then-Gov. Mitt Romney signed Massachusetts' comprehensive health reform designed to provide near-universal health insurance coverage for state residents. Building on a long history of health reform efforts, the state embarked on an ambitious plan to promote shared individual, employer, and government responsibility. This brief examines Massachusetts' experience with coverage and access to care over the last six years, as well as the state's ongoing efforts to deal with persistent high health-care costs. The…

  • Health Savings Accounts and High Deductible Health Plans: Are They An Option for Low-Income Families?

    Issue Brief

    Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) are a type of medical savings account that allow consumers to save for medical expenses on a tax-fee basis. They are linked with high deductible health plans (HDHPs), and together these insurance and savings options represent a new approach to health care, commonly referred to as consumer-directed care. This brief, based on analyses of available data and research, finds that most low-income families would not benefit from HSA-HDHPs due to an…

  • National Survey of Enrollees in Consumer-Directed Health Plans

    Poll Finding

    This Kaiser survey looks at the views and experiences of people enrolled in consumer-directed health plans as compared to people with traditional health insurance. Consumer-directed plans, which involve high deductibles coupled with tax-preferred saving options that consumers can use to pay for their care out of pocket, are intended to make consumers more active participants in decisions about their health care, including on cost issues. The survey was conducted among 1,389 people, including 272 who…

  • Toplines: The Public’s Health Care Agenda

    Poll Finding

    These toplines provide the complete survey questions and findings from The Public’s Health Care Agenda for the New Congress and Presidential Campaign, conducted jointly by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health between November 9 and 19, 2006. The survey looks at the public’s priorities and views on health issues as a new Democratic majority takes the leadership of Congress and as the 2008 presidential campaign begins to take shape. It…

  • Section 1: Health Spending and Costs, Including Prescription Drugs

    Other Post

    Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 next > Exhibit 1.1: National Health Expenditures and Their Share of Gross Domestic Product, 1960-2004 Expenditures in the United States on health care were nearly $1.9 trillion in 2004, more than two and a half times the $717 billion spent in 1990, and more than seven times the $255 billion spent in 1980.…

  • Section 6: Trends in Health Plan and Provider Relationships

    Other Post

    Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 next > Exhibit 6.1: Physician Participation in Managed Care, 1988, 1999, 2001 Physician participation in managed care increased sharply in the decade between the late 1980s and the late 1990s, but has decreased since then. The proportion of physicians with at least one managed care contract increased from 61% in 1988 to 91% in 1999, but then dropped to 88% in 2001. The…