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A Note on How the War in Iran May Affect Health Care in the Midterms

In a new column, Dr. Drew Altman, KFF’s President and CEO, discusses the impact of the war in Iran and rising gas prices on voter concerns about health care costs. He writes: “Recently, we saw health care costs rise to the top of the public’s list of economic worries, ahead of food, housing, utility costs and the cost of gas….Expect gas prices to rise and health care costs to fall on the list of affordability worries while the war in Iran lasts, but then to return to the top or near the top when President Trump decides to declare the major hostilities over...health care costs have staying power as one of the top voter concerns.”

Affordable care act

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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

In 2024, life expectancy in the U.S. reached an all-time high of 79 years but remained years behind the average in comparable countries

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.

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.

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  • Pulling it Together: 2012: The ACA, and More

    From Drew Altman

    What is remarkable about 2012 (and the current era in health policy) is how many big health policy issues and marketplace changes will be in play at the same time: HEALTH REFORM: There is the implementation of a historic but fragile health reform law, with a Supreme Court decision pending and so much hanging in…

  • Nursing Labor Markets Tutorial

    Interactive

    This tutorial was produced for kaiserEDU.org, a Kaiser Family Foundation website that ceased production in September 2013. The kaiserEDU.org tutorials are no longer being updated but have been made available on kff.org due to demand by professors who are using the tutorials in class assignments. You may search for other tutorials to view on kff.org.

  • Kaiser Health Tracking Poll — December 2011

    Poll Finding

    The October downturn in the share of Americans with a favorable view of the health reform law, a dip driven by an erosion of support among Democrats, has been fully reversed in December, with support among Democrats rebounding and overall national opinion on the law returning to the roughly even split seen in Kaiser polls…

  • Inside Deficit Reduction: What Now?

    Event Date:
    Event

    The Budget Control Act of 2011 tasked members of a "Super Committee" to find at least $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction over the next decade.

  • Pulling it Together: The Most Popular Provision in the ACA?

    Perspective

    In our most recent monthly tracking poll, we asked the American people what elements of the health reform law they like and dislike. Surprisingly, the runaway favorite was a relatively obscure requirement that health plans provide consumers with a short, easy to understand description of their benefits and coverage.

  • The Economy and Medical Care

    Perspective

    Various market watchers have reported that the use of health care services has not been growing recently as it had in the past, resulting in lower than expected health care claims for people with private insurance and higher than expected earnings for insurers.