Home Health Costs Topics

Health Costs

Affordability and Spending

Our Darwinian Approach to Health Care Costs

Our Darwinian Approach to Health Care Costs

In his latest column, President and CEO Dr. Drew Altman presents his Venn diagram of health care cost problems and shows how, in our fragmented health system, reducing one health cost problem often makes another worse. "...Reducing health care costs has become a Darwinian game; everyone wants to reduce health care costs and spending – their own, often at the expense of someone else."

Affordable care act

Poll: Health Care Costs, Expiring ACA Tax Credits, and the 2026 Midterms

Heading into this midterm election year, the cost of health care tops the public’s economic anxieties, and more than 4 in 10 voters say the issue will have a major impact on their vote, a new KFF Health Tracking poll finds. Two thirds of public say Congress "did the wrong thing" by not extending ACA enhanced tax credits, but Republicans largely say Congress “did the right thing.”

Health System Tracker

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.

 

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 Do Health Expenditures Vary Across the Population? Five percent of the population made up nearly half of all health spendings, pending an average of $72,918 annually in 2023.

NHE explorer

National Health Spending Explorer: Get up-to-date information on U.S. health spending by federal and local governments, private companies, and individuals.

Latest News

More KFF Health News

View the Latest: Health Costs

Filter

List Grid

11 - 20 of 1,556 Results

  • What to Know About Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) and Federal Efforts at Regulation

    Issue Brief

    This brief provides an overview of the role of PBMs in managing pharmacy benefits, discusses federal efforts to reform certain PBM business practices, and explains the estimated federal budgetary impact of the recently enacted legislation, which would be a reduction in the federal deficit of $2.1 billion over 10 years, according to CBO.

  • Americans’ Challenges with Health Care Costs

    Issue Brief

    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.

  • KFF Health Tracking Poll: Health Care Costs, Expiring ACA Tax Credits, and the 2026 Midterms

    Poll Finding

    Looking ahead to the midterm elections, health care costs are the public’s top economic concern, and many voters say the issue will have a major impact on their vote. On health care issues, including the cost of health care, voters currently trust Democrats more than Republicans, though neither party has an advantage on addressing the overall cost of living. Following the expiration of the ACA enhanced tax credits, two-thirds of the public say Congress did the “wrong thing” by not extending them.

  • Our Darwinian Approach to Health Care Costs

    From Drew Altman

    In his latest column, President and CEO Dr. Drew Altman presents his Venn diagram of health care cost problems and shows how, in our fragmented health system, reducing one health cost problem often makes another worse.

  • National Health Spending Explorer

    Interactive

    The Health Spending Explorer on the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker helps users examine five decades worth of numbers documenting expenditures by federal and local governments, private insurers, and individuals on 15 categories of health services, including hospitals, physician and clinic care, and prescription drugs.