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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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  • Explaining Health Reform: Eligibility And Enrollment Processes For Medicaid, CHIP and Subsidies in the Exchange

    Issue Brief

    The new health reform law will require most U.S. citizens and legal residents to have health coverage by 2014. It provides new options for coverage by expanding Medicaid eligibility to more low-income people and creating a state-based system of health insurance exchanges through which individuals can purchase coverage, with federal subsidies for many. This brief and accompanying explanatory chart summarize key requirements that states face under health reform to construct coordinated and consumer-friendly enrollment systems…

  • Pulling it Together: Seniors and Health Reform

    Perspective

    It is widely believed that seniors are antsy about the new health reform law. And there is heightened interest in how seniors feel about the law in the political world because they are more likely to vote in midterm elections.  About 48% of the electorate said they voted in the 2006 midterms while about 63% of seniors said the same.  Our June and July tracking polls shed light on seniors’ views on health reform and…

  • The $174 Billion Question: How to Reduce Diabetes and Obesity

    Event Date:
    Event

    Diabetes and obesity have evolved from a national public health concern to a problem of epidemic proportions — a very costly problem. The direct medical costs and the indirect costs of diabetes are estimated at $174 billion yearly. This briefing, sponsored by the Alliance for Health Reform and the United Health Foundation, looked at the scope of the problem, and some promising solutions. For more information, please visit Alliance's event page. Full Video   Speakers…

  • Statement of Gary Claxton to NAIC Exchanges (B) Subgroup

    Event Date:
    Event

    Kaiser Family Foundation Vice President Gary Claxton, who directs the Foundation's Marketplace Policy Project, testified July 22, 2010, at a public hearing before the National Association of Insurance Commissioners' Exchanges (B) Subgroup established by the health reform law.  Testimony (.pdf)

  • Pulling it Together: What Conservatives Are Winning

    Perspective

    Conservatives are out of sorts these days about the direction in which health care is headed. They think the new health reform law expands the role of government too much and spends too much at a time when they believe deficit reduction should be a higher priority. The claims about death panels and a government takeover of the health system aside, these are principled positions for conservatives to take – they are supposed to be…

  • KFF Survey Finds that a Majority of Individuals Who Buy Their Own Insurance Report Facing a Premium Increase

    Perspective

    People who buy their own insurance report that their insurers most recently requested premium increases averaging 20 percent, according to a new Kaiser survey examining the experiences and views of people who buy health coverage in the non-group or individual market. Overall roughly three in four people (77 percent) with non-group coverage report facing a premium increase with a current or previous insurer. Most say they paid the increase, but 16 percent of all policyholders…

  • Survey of People Who Purchase Their Own Insurance

    Poll Finding

    While most people in the U.S. get health insurance through their employer, about 14 million people under age 65 have coverage through the non-group or individual market, which has faced scrutiny recently in news reports about some insurers’ steep rate increases and in the market reforms in the new health reform law that will take effect in 2014. This survey provides insight into the current state of the non-group market and finds policyholders report that…

  • Changes in Health Insurance Status over a Two-Year Period

    Issue Brief

    The ability to maintain health insurance in the face of rising costs and an uncertain economy is a key concern for families and featured prominently in the health reform debate. While the percentage of the population without coverage at any one time changes by only a relatively small amount over a one- or two-year period, the percentage of people who start out with coverage and lose it for a meaningful amount of time during the…

  • Pulling it Together: REPOR(t)

    Perspective

    In today’s column I investigate a somewhat lighter topic than my last column on micro-simulation modeling: What was the impact of shows like Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show and Stephen Colbert’s The Colbert Report on the health reform debate?  Who among us has not wondered about the answer to this question?  Please don’t answer that. I should start by acknowledging that I am a frequent but not religious viewer of these shows, and believe that…

  • Pulling It Together: Predicting the Future

    Perspective

    A fair amount of attention was given recently to projections made by the Chief Actuary of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) about the new health reform law, and how they compare to previous estimates by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). No doubt the various projections will be grist for claims made in the upcoming political season, so it is important to be clear about the differences between the two estimates and to…