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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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  • Managed Care and Low Income Populations in Texas: 1996-1998 Update

    Report

    This report, Managed Care and Low-Income Populations in Texas: 1996-1998 Update, updates our 1996 case study of Texas' Medicaid managed care initiatives and their affect on low-income populations. The authors conclude that Medicaid managed care in Texas has had mixed results. It is one of a series of reports from the Kaiser/ Commonwealth Low-Income Coverage and Access Project. This project examines how changes in the Medicaid program have affected health insurance coverage and access to…

  • The Public, Managed Care and Consumer Protection

    Other Post

    The Kaiser Public Opinion Update -Revised, 2000 This new and revised Public Opinion Update summarizes key findings from surveys conducted between 1997 and 2000, a period in which the intensity of public debate and media attention paid to managed care issues varied substantially. Trends used in this Public Opinion Update are from the following Kaiser Family Foundation/Harvard University, School of Public Health Surveys: September, 1997: Survey of Americans' Views on Managed Care (11/97, #1328); December,…

  • Medicaid and Managed Care

    Fact Sheet

    This fact sheet provides an overview of the Medicaid program's increasing reliance on managed care to deliver services. Fact Sheet

  • National Survey on Americans as Health Care Consumers: An Update on the Role of Quality Information

    Poll Finding

    This survey of Americans by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality (AHRQ) shows that the recent attention to medical errors may have entered the public's consciousness since it is now among the public's leading measures of health care quality. The survey also found that the public is more likely to rely on recommendations of friends, family and health professionals they know than on existing standardized quality indicators. Few…

  • Pulling It Together: Rising Health Costs Are Not Just a Federal Budget Problem

    Perspective

    Premiums for employer-provided health insurance, where 150 million Americans get their coverage, jumped 9% in 2011 while workers’ wages grew just 2%, according to our annual employer survey.  The average family policy now costs more than $15,000 per year, more than the cost of a Chevy Aveo or a Ford Fiesta.  Since we began doing this survey thirteen years ago, worker contributions to premiums have increased 168%, wages 50%, and inflation 38%. Critics of the…

  • The Language of Health Care Reform

    Perspective

    Published in the Jan. 19 edition of JAMA, this article from KFF Executive Vice President for Health Policy Larry Levitt lays out the major health policy challenges that will confront President-elect Biden and potential approaches to major reform.While a big reform debate may not be likely this year, one is likely coming as the nation will need to confront much higher costs than in other high-income countries, worse outcomes in many cases, tens of millions…

  • COVID-19 is the Number One Cause of Death in the U.S. in Early 2021

    Issue Brief

    A updated issue brief examines the most recent data on deaths from COVID-19 and other causes, and finds that COVID-19 is currently the number one cause of death in the United States. As of February 20, 2021, an average of more than 2,400 people per day died of COVID-19 in the U.S. during February 2021 - a number nearly 20% higher than the next leading cause. Heart disease, which is typically the number one cause…

  • COVID-19 Pandemic-Related Excess Mortality and Potential Years of Life Lost in the U.S. and Peer Countries

    Issue Brief

    A new issue brief reviews excess death rates in the U.S. and peer countries by age groups to examine how the pandemic has affected excess mortality rate among younger people. The analysis looks specifically at the excess deaths that arose in 2020 to examine how the age at death during the pandemic has differed between the U.S. and peer nations, and estimates the excess potential years of life lost (a measure of “premature excess death”)…

  • April 29 Web Briefing: How Large Employers View Rising Health Care Costs and the Role of Government

    Event Date:
    Event

    The COVID-19 pandemic and recent elections are changing the national conversation around expanding health care coverage and reining in rising health care costs. President Biden campaigned on a platform of expanding access to public health coverage in ways that could change the role of employer-sponsored health insurance, which currently covers about half of all Americans. On Thursday, April 29, a public web briefing explored how large employers view the burden of rising health care costs…