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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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  • Pulling It Together: Writing Regulations

    Perspective

    Not since Geraldo Rivera revealed the secret contents of Al Capone's vault on national TV in the mid-80s, or more recently, sports fans awaited the LeBron James "decision" about where he would play next, have we so anxiously awaited anything as much as the draft health exchange regulations just published by HHS. Well, okay, I exaggerate for effect, but the regulations on health insurance exchanges were anxiously awaited by the health policy community. The hallmark…

  • Kaiser Health Tracking Poll — July 2011

    Feature

    Health care, and particularly Medicare and Medicaid, continue to play a role in the national discussion over the federal budget deficit. In the midst of this debate, the latest Kaiser Health Tracking poll finds that Americans of all political stripes see a role for both spending reductions and tax increases as part of an overall deficit reduction strategy. Still, few are willing to support major spending reductions in Medicare, and a large majority believes the…

  • Preventing Chronic Disease: The New Public Health

    Event Date:
    Event

    There is a groundswell of activity in local communities to support healthier lifestyles and help people make long-lasting and sustainable changes that can reduce their risk for chronic diseases. A number of provisions in the health reform law are aimed directly at improving population health by addressing conditions where Americans live, learn, work, and play. Public health agencies across the nation are involved in promoting healthy life styles in their communities and the U.S. Department…

  • Peering Into the Black Box of Insurance Rating

    Perspective

    Recently, the New York Times reported that private health insurers continue to seek large premium increases despite seeing lower than expected use of medical care and booking record profits. The story highlights a significant problem for health policy: the lack of good, public information about how health insurers manage health care use and what they pay for medical services. As a nation, we rely on competition among largely private health plans to ensure that health…

  • Health Coverage for the Unemployed

    Issue Brief

    This policy brief outlines the challenges facing the unemployed as they seek to remain insured after losing jobs and employer-sponsored health coverage. In May 2011, 13.9 million people in the U.S. were unemployed. Of these, 6.2 million had been unemployed for six months or more and faced limited options to remain insured. The brief examines potential sources of insurance, including through a spouse's plan, COBRA, the non-group insurance market and public programs. It also discusses…

  • Pulling It Together: Predictions

    Perspective

    I usually don’t make predictions, unless they are backed up by the kind of statistical modeling we often produce.  But here are three predictions I am confident about that form the basis of this latest column. GROUP HEALTH INSURANCE PREMIUMS WILL CONTINUE TO RISE AT HISTORICALLY MODERATE LEVELS, AT LEAST FOR THE NEXT FEW YEARS.  One reason for this is the lingering effect of the recession.  Employers will have little trouble attracting workers in the…

  • Accountable Care Organizations: A New Paradigm for Health Care Delivery?

    Event Date:
    Event

    The health reform law of 2010 authorizes Medicare, beginning next year, to contract with accountable care organizations (ACOs) in a Medicare Shared Savings Program. ACOs provide financial incentives to improve the coordination and quality of care for Medicare beneficiaries, while reducing costs. But providers have raised red flags, saying the arrangements are burdensome and too hard to achieve. This briefing addresses questions raised by the law and the subsequent regulation implementing ACOs, including: How will…

  • Uninsured Are Less Satisfied

    Perspective

    Given that people without health insurance have no protection from health care costs, it is not surprising that they are much less likely to say they are satisfied with costs than those with insurance (31 percent vs. 68 percent Majorities of both the uninsured and insured report being satisfied with the quality of care they receive, but the differences are still striking. Six in ten of the uninsured say they are satisfied with their quality…

  • Dissatisfaction with Health Insurance Despite Positive Ratings

    Perspective

    Personal experiences with the health care system are a key factor in Americans’ opinions on how the health care system should function and their expectations of how the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will change the system when fully implemented. In order to take a closer look at these personal experiences, this post explores findings from the March Kaiser Health Tracking Poll on Americans’ views of their health care and coverage, including health insurance ratings and…

  • Pulling It Together: What Conservatives Won In Health Reform (And Don’t Seem to Know It)

    Perspective

    Conservatives obviously don't like what they call "Obamacare" because they think it expands the role of government too much and spends too much money.  But ironically, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) actually promotes -- though not explicitly -- something that has been a fundamental objective of conservatives in health care for years: high-deductible health plans with more "skin in the game." In a new study we just released, we commissioned three different actuarial consulting firms…