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KFF/AP Survey Probes Rural Voters’ Increasing Anxieties About the Rising Cost of Living, Including Health Costs, Heading into the Midterm Elections

The KFF/AP Rural Voters Survey examines the views and political priorities of voters living in rural areas across the United States ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. The survey gauges rural voters’ top election issues, growing struggles with cost of living and health care costs, as well as views on the Trump administration’s health care policies.

Health System Tracker

How TrumpRx Brand-Name Drug Prices Compare

TrumpRx prices for brand-name drugs are about as likely to be higher as lower compared to average prices in other wealthy countries, according to an analysis that compares 32 brand-name drugs.

The MIDTERMS

“...the search for a single top issue through polling questions — whether it’s health costs, or gas prices, or the cost of food — is artificial. People worry about and experience these costs together. There is no top issue, unless that issue is the catchall, ‘cost of living.’” — Drew Altman, KFF Founding President and CEO

Are Health Care Costs THE Top Issue for Voters?

In a new column, Dr. Drew Altman, Founding President and CEO, analyzes the polling on health costs as a voting issue and concludes that there is no one top voting issue. He writes: “I have come to the conclusion that the search for a single top issue through polling questions—whether it’s health costs, or gas prices, or the cost of food—is artificial. People worry about and experience these costs together. There is no top issue, unless that issue is the catchall, “cost of living.”

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  • Recent Tax Proposals to Increase Health Insurance Coverage

    Other Post

    This report includes a side-by-side analysis of recent tax proposals by Members of Congress and various health organizations designed to increase the number of individuals with private health insurance coverage. Recent Tax Proposals To Increase Health Insurance Coverage

  • Medicaid and Managed Care: Implications for Low-income Women

    Report

    This commentary reviews Medicaid's role for low-income women and examines the implications Medicaid managed care on the delivery of health services to this vulnerable population. Today 40% of the Medicaid population, mostly poor women and their children, is enrolled in managed care. Medicaid agencies are hoping managed care will control spending and address longstanding problems with access to care. Low-income women have a number of characteristics that make them doubly vulnerable to have trouble accessing…

  • Implementation of Managed Care Consumer Protections in Missouri, New Jersey, Texas & Vermont

    Report

    This study goes beyond the legislative debates over expanded patients' rights to explore how managed care consumer protections have actually been implemented in four states (Missouri, New Jersey, Texas & Vermont) all of which have been active in this area. The study describes the details of the reforms, the issues that have arisen in implementation, and the lessons for policymakers from the experiences of these states. An Overview/Executive summary of the full report is also…

  • Health Centers’ Role as Safety Net Providers for Medicaid Patients and the Uninsured

    Report

    This issue paper profiles the role America's health centers have played in providing care for Medicaid patients and the uninsured. The paper presents information on health center patients and revenue sources and analyzes similarities and differences both between health centers and private practices and among health centers. These centers perform a unique role in the American health care system as nearly 85 percent of their patients are low-income and more than a third of their…

  • Managed Care and Low-Income Populations: Case Study of Managed Care in Maryland

    Report

    This report analyzes Maryland's Medicaid managed care program, HealthChoice, an ambitious and broad-reaching effort to reform the financing and delivery of health care for over 300,000 low-income individuals. Implemented in 1997, HealthChoice contains certain innovative features not found in many other state reform efforts, such as protections for traditional providers and development of a new risk adjustment system. This report is one of a series of reports from The Kaiser/Commonwealth Low-Income Coverage and Access Project.…

  • Table

    Other Post

    SUMMARY OF CALIFORNIA VERSUS THE U KEY HEALTH CARE FACTS IN CALIFORNIA AND THE U.S. California U.S. Percentage uninsured (non-elderly) (1998) 24.4% 18.3% Percentage of children uninsured (1998) 20.8% 15.5% Percentage of non-elderly enrolled in Medicaid: 1998 11.1% 8.4% 1994 14.3% 10.0% Percentage of employers that offer health insurance (1999) 48% 61% Percentage of workers with access to coverage for "non-traditional" partners (1999) 31% 18% Average monthly HMO premium for family coverage (1999) $405 $445…

  • Medical Care Research and Review

    Other Post

    Journal Supplement This special supplement of includes: original research tracking trends in disparities in health coverage and access to care over two decades; literature syntheses focused on medical treatment and the decision-making process; legal analysis of civil rights laws in the context of managed care; and findings from a national survey of public awareness of racial inequities in care. The supplement is comprised of work commissioned by the Foundation for its 1999 national policy roundtable,…

  • Employers Attitudes Toward Patients Rights

    Report

    A national survey of employers, released jointly by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust, found that smaller employers (3 to 199 employees) are significantly more likely than larger employers (200 or more employers) to support a person's right to sue a health plan, and somewhat more likely to support the right to appeal a health plan's decision to an independent reviewer. Two-thirds (67%) of smaller employers express support for the…

  • The Future of Retiree Health Benefits: Challenges and Options

    Event Date:
    Event

    Tricia Neuman, Vice President and Director of the Medicare Policy Project testified before the House Subcommittee on Employer-Employee Relations on retiree health coverage for older Americans. The statement describes the health needs of aging adults and the importance of health insurance coverage at a time in their lives when they face increasing health problems. It then reviews insurance challenges facing both early retirees, as well as retirees who are 65 and older, against the backdrop…

  • Statewide Surveys of Californians on Public Attitudes Toward the Single Payer Ballot Initiatives (Proposition 186)

    Other Post

    California Election Night Survey On Ballot Initiatives Anti-government Mood Defeats Proposition 186 A Perception That Undocumented Persons Use Costly Services Drives Vote For Proposition 187 Embargoed for release: 12:00 p.m. EST, Tuesday, November 15, 1994 For more information contact: Matt James or Tina Hoff Menlo Park, CA -- A Kaiser/Harvard survey of Californians in the 1994 election has found that the principal reason voters rejected Proposition 186, the state single payer initiative, was their concern…