Health Costs

The MIDTERMS

Democrats Hold a Nearly 2-to-1 Advantage Over Republicans on Handling the Cost of Health Care

Poll: Cost of Health Care and Gas Top Voters’ Midterm Concerns; Democrats Hold Significant Advantage on Health Care Costs and Cost of Living 

With the 2026 midterms about a month away, health care costs remain tied with gas as voters’ top midterm concerns and the Democrats hold a clear edge over the Republicans Party on who voters trust to handle many top electoral issues, including the cost of health care and the cost of living. Two-thirds of U.S. adults now favor Medicare-for-all, a new high in KFF Polling, but support shifts when competing claims from critics and proponents are heard.

New and noteworthy

Americans’ Challenges with Health Care Costs

This data note reviews our recent polling data that finds that many Americans struggle to afford many aspects of health care, including disproportionate shares of uninsured adults, Black and Hispanic adults and those with lower incomes.

Health System Tracker

U.S. Health Spending Is Expected to Reach $9 Trillion by 2034

How Much is Health Spending Expected to Grow?

This chart collection explores how much health spending is expected to grow in the coming years, with a look at growth in prescription drug spending, out-of-pocket spending, and related trends.

Is This A Healthcare Economy?

Health care employment has grown faster than other sectors of the economy, with jobs in physician offices, hospitals, outpatient care centers, home health, and other settings increasing over the past year even as the rest of the job market plateaued. 

How TrumpRx Brand-Name Drug Prices Compare

TrumpRx prices for brand-name drugs are about as likely to be higher as lower compared to average prices in other wealthy countries, according to an analysis that compares 32 brand-name drugs.

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  • Trends in Medicare Supplemental Insurance and Prescription Drug Benefits, 1996-2001Data Update

    Report

    Trends in Medicare Supplemental Insurance and Prescription Drug Benefits, 1996-2001 Data Update This data update provides estimates of supplemental insurance and prescription drug coverage rates and trends between 1996 and 2001, which will help to provide important context for assessing future changes in supplemental insurance and drug coverage rates after provisions of the Medicare drug benefit take effect. Report (.pdf)

  • The State of Retiree Health Benefits: Historical Trends and Future Uncertainties

    Event

    Tricia Neuman, Vice President and Director of the Medicare Policy Project for the Kaiser Family Foundation, testified on Monday, May 17, at a U.S. Senate Committee on Aging hearing on issues relating to retiree health coverage, "Access to Adequate Health Insurance: How Does the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's Recent Rule Affect Retiree Health Benefits?" Testimony (.pdf) Webcast of Hearing

  • California Employer Health Benefits Survey Archives

    Report

    In 1999, The Kaiser Family Foundation, the Health Research and Educational Trust, and UC Berkeley undertook a supplement to the National Employer Health Benefits Survey based on California firms. Since that time, the survey has been conducted annually by Kaiser and HRET. Like the National survey, the California Employer Health Benefits Survey tracks trends in employer health insurance coverage, the cost of that coverage, and other topical health insurance issues. Findings are based on a…

  • Section 7: Implications of Health Market Trends for Consumers and the Safety Net

    Other Post

    Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 next > Exhibit 7.1: Number of the Nonelderly Uninsured, 1994-2004 The number of the nonelderly (under age 65) uninsured in the United States increased in 2004 to 45.5 million, an increase of 800,000 over 2003. Health insurance affects people’s access to health care, their health status, their job decisions, and their financial security. Health insurance…

  • 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…

  • Section 5: Structure of the Health Care Marketplace

    Other Post

    Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 next > Exhibit 5.1: Health Care Employment and Share of Total Non-Farm Employment, 1990-2005p Health care employment as a proportion of all non-farm employment has increased fairly steadily since the early 1990s. In 2005p, 9.2% of all workers, or 12.3 million people, held health care jobs, up from 7.5% (8.2 million) in 1990. Health Care Employment (object placeholder) Notes: Not seasonally adjusted.…

  • Coverage and Cost Impacts of the President’s Health Insurance Tax Credit and Tax Deduction Proposals

    Issue Brief

    This issue brief looks at the coverage impacts and costs of two components of the administration’s FY 2005 budget proposals to increase the affordability of health insurance: a new tax credit for people purchasing non-group health insurance and a new tax deduction for premiums for high-deductible, non-group health insurance policies. The estimates were prepared by Jonathan Gruber, Ph.D., Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, using a micro-simulation model developed in conjunction with…

  • Section 2: Health Insurance Enrollment

    Other Post

    Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 next > Exhibit 2.1: Trends in Health Coverage for the Nonelderly Population, 2002 and 2003 The percent of the nonelderly population without insurance rose from 17.3% in 2002 to 17.7% in 2003 (or 44.7 million uninsured), an increase of 1.4 million over 2002. The proportion of Americans with employer-based insurance declined from 63.3% in 2002 to 61.9%…

  • 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.…

  • Retiree Health Benefits Now and In the Future – Chartpack

    Report

    This chartpack (charts used at the briefing releasing this survey), from the survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation and Hewitt Associates between June and September 2003, provides detailed information on retiree health programs offered by large private-sector employers. The data in this survey reflect the responses of 408 large firms (private-sector employers with 1,000 or more workers) and provides information on eligibility, benefits, premiums, and total cost in 2003, and offers insights as to…