Health Costs

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.”

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."

KEY RESOURCES
  • Health Policy 101: Costs and Affordability

    This Health Policy 101 chapter explores trends in health care costs in the U.S. and the factors that contribute to this spending. It also examines how health care spending varies and the impact on affordability and people's overall financial vulnerability.  


  • Americans’ Challenges with Health Care Costs

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

  • National Health Spending Explorer

    This interactive Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker tool allows users to examine five decades worth of data on health expenditures by federal and local governments, private insurers, and individuals.

  • Polling on Prescription Drugs and Their Prices

    This chart collection draws on recent KFF poll findings to provide an in-depth look at the public’s attitudes toward prescription drugs and their prices. Results include Americans’ opinions on drug affordability, pharmaceutical companies, and various potential measures that could lower prices.

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1,001 - 1,010 of 1,549 Results

  • The Working Uninsured in California and the US

    Issue Brief

    This issue brief, prepared by Linda Blumberg and Len Nichols of the Urban Institute, examines the factors contributing to the disproportionately high rates of uninsurance among California's workers compared to the

  • Health News Index – September/October 2001

    Poll Finding

    Health News Index September/October, 2001 The September/October 2001 edition of the Kaiser Family Foundation/Harvard School of Public Health Health News Index includes questions about major health stories covered in the news, including reports about rising health insurance premiums and Americans most important sources for health news and information.

  • Trends and Indicators in the Changing Health Care Marketplace 2002

    Report

    This chartbook provides information on key trends in the health care marketplace including health spending, the structure of the health care marketplace, and health plan and provider relationships. It highlights data on health plan enrollment, premiums, and benefits, and the implications of health market trends for consumers and the safety net. Chartbook (.

  • A Study of Media Coverage of Health Policy 1997-2000

    Poll Finding

    The debate over President Clinton's national health care reform plan put health care policy at the forefront of the national agenda in 1993 and 1994. After the end of that debate, it remained to be seen whether or not health policy would hold the media's and the public s interest to the same degree.

  • Comparisons of the Liability Provisions of the House and Senate Patients’ Rights Bills

    Report

    A hotly debated issue in Congress has been the issue of when health maintenance organizations, health insurers, and those who administer health benefit plans should be financially liable to their plan participants for a denial of a claim or for damages for any injuries that result from such denials (known as health plan liability ).

  • Trends in Medicare Supplemental Insurance and Prescription Drug Coverage 1996-1999

    Other Post

    This paper, featured in the February 27, 2002, online issue of Health Affairs, examines trends in Medicare beneficiaries supplemental insurance and prescription drug coverage between 1996 and 1999, using the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS) Access to Care files. It also provides snapshot estimates of coverage among subgroups of Medicare beneficiaries in 1999.

  • Demand Effects of Recent Changes in Prescription Drug Promotion

    Report

    The rapid increase in DTC advertising for prescription drugs has focused attention on its role in drug spending and prescribing. A new study by researchers at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology looks at the effect of direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising on spending for prescription drugs.

  • Education and Health Care Lead Issues on Voters’ Minds for 2000 Election

    Report

    The Kaiser Family Foundation/Harvard School of Public Health National Survey on Health Care and the 2000 Elections is a survey of Americans' views on health related issues in the upcoming 2000 elections. Among leading findings, voters cited education and health as top issues on their minds for the upcoming 2000 elections.