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KFF Health Tracking Poll: Health Care Costs and the Midterms

This KFF poll finds that health care costs continue to top the public’s list of affordability worries, even as concerns about gas prices have risen in recent weeks, with two-thirds of the public expressing worry over affording health care costs. Majorities say health costs will influence their vote this election. Voters favor Democrats on the issue, while Republicans hold an advantage on addressing fraud and abuse.

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: A Note on Presidential Leadership Strategy

    Perspective

    In inside circles of the health reform debate there has been criticism of the President for not weighing in earlier and publicly on the details of health reform legislation. Does he want the Senate's approach to employer obligations, or the approach taken in the House? What form of public option does he want: a robust one, a trigger, an opt-in, an opt-out, or none at all? What level of premiums and cost sharing is he…

  • Snapshots: Wages & Benefits: A Long-Term View

    Issue Brief

    Recent polls show that a substantial portion of families worry about whether their incomes will keep pace with rising prices generally and whether they will have to pay more for health care or health insurance.1 This concern about the cost of health insurance may result in part from the rapid increases in the costs of work-based health insurance in recent years: between 1999 and 2009, health insurance premiums rose 131%, a much faster rate of increase…

  • The Role of Independent Commissions in Controlling Costs and Enhancing Value: International Lessons

    Event Date:
    Event

    The Alliance for Health Reform and the Commonwealth Fund co-sponsored this briefing to examine the quasi-governmental authorities that Germany, the Netherlands and France have established to control health care costs, oversee quality, and regulate insurance and provider payment. How and why have these quasi-governmental authorities come into being? What is their scope of power, and the mechanism they provide for bringing stakeholders together in health care decision making? What are the respective roles of government…

  • Chartpack: Kaiser Health Tracking Poll — November 2009

    Poll Finding

    This document contains the chartpack from the November Health Tracking Poll. The survey was designed and analyzed by public opinion researchers at the Kaiser Family Foundation and was conducted November 5 through November 12, 2009, among a nationally representative random sample of 1,203 adults ages 18 and older. Telephone interviews conducted by landline (802) and cell phone (401, including 112 who had no landline telephone) were carried out in English and Spanish. The margin of…

  • Assessing Congressional Budget Office Estimates of the Cost and Coverage Implications of Health Reform Proposals

    Issue Brief

    This issue brief explains key elements of the Congressional Budget Office's estimates of the major health reform bills pending in Congress, the Affordable Health Care for America Act (H.R. 3962) and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (H.R. 3590). Throughout the health reform debate, CBO has analyzed these and other bills and provided projections of the costs and savings to the federal government associated with the plans over a 10-year period, as well as…

  • Key Findings: Kaiser Health Tracking Poll — November 2009

    Poll Finding

    This document contains the key findings from the November Health Tracking Poll. The survey was designed and analyzed by public opinion researchers at the Kaiser Family Foundation and was conducted November 5 through November 12, 2009, among a nationally representative random sample of 1,203 adults ages 18 and older. Telephone interviews conducted by landline (802) and cell phone (401, including 112 who had no landline telephone) were carried out in English and Spanish. The margin…

  • Toplines: Kaiser Health Tracking Poll — November 2009

    Poll Finding

    This document contains the toplines from the November Health Tracking Poll. The survey was designed and analyzed by public opinion researchers at the Kaiser Family Foundation and was conducted November 5 through November 12, 2009, among a nationally representative random sample of 1,203 adults ages 18 and older. Telephone interviews conducted by landline (802) and cell phone (401, including 112 who had no landline telephone) were carried out in English and Spanish. The margin of…

  • Kaiser Health Tracking Poll — November 2009

    Poll Finding

    The November Kaiser Health Tracking Poll shows little movement in measures of public opinion about health reform from recent months. Among the new findings is a ranking of the public's top priorities from among a list of elements of the legislation. There were both similarities and differences in priorities across partisan groups: while assuring the availability of affordable plans ranked in the top three priorities for Democrats, Republicans and independents, deficit neutrality ranked in the…

  • Pulling it Together: The “Third School” for Controlling Health Care Costs?

    Perspective

    For as long as I have been in the field, there have been two dominant schools of thought about how to control health care costs. One school, The Regulators, believed that the best way to slow increasing costs was to control the total resources going into the health care system: putting limits on the supply of medical professionals, technology and facilities; setting payment rates; or putting enough purchasing power in the hands of government to…

  • Kaiser Health Tracking Poll — October 2009

    Feature

    The October Kaiser Health Tracking Poll finds public support for health reform unchanged since last month, with more in favor than opposed. Fifty-five percent of Americans believe that it is more important than ever to take on health care reform now, while 41 percent say the country cannot afford it right now. The survey also shows about half of the public believes that if reform passes, help for the uninsured and changes in insurance market…