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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: Keeping the Health Reform Coalition Together

    Perspective

    We could be headed for a new schism in the debate about health reform. Not the familiar gulf between advocates of the market and government, or the predictable one between deficit hawks and spenders, but a new one that crosses traditional partisan and ideological lines between advocates of long-term reform of the health care delivery system, and immediate help for the uninsured and insured struggling with health care costs.  This new rift is most likely to develop if tight money and a crowded agenda…

  • Health Coverage in an Economic Downturn: Impact of Tight Budgets on Families and States

    Fact Sheet

    The economic downturn has strained family finances and prompted some Americans to cut back on medications and forgo preventive care and visits to the doctor. At the same time, the downturn has triggered declines in tax revenue that inhibit states’ ability to meet rising Medicaid program costs as enrollment spikes during economic hard times. Many states are expected to struggle to close budget gaps despite moves by Congress and the Obama Administration to temporarily boost…

  • President Obama’s Campaign Position on Health Reform and Other Health Care Issues

    Issue Brief

    During the 2008 Presidential campaign now President Barack Obama announced a comprehensive health care reform proposal and laid out his positions on a number of other key health care issues. The two documents below summarize these campaign policies and positions. They were prepared by the Kaiser Family Foundation with the assistance of Health Policy Alternatives, Inc., and are based on information compiled from Obama's campaign Web site, speeches, campaign debates and news reports. They are…

  • Health Care Costs and Election 2008

    Issue Brief

     Download PDF KEY FACTS ON HEALTH CARE COSTS Health spending in the United States is an estimated $2.4 trillion in 2008, an average of $7,868 per person The share of the economy (GDP) devoted to national health spending has increased from 7.2% in 1970 to an estimated 16.6% in 2008 Eighteen percent of the nonelderly were in families that spent over 10% of their disposable on out-of-pocket health care premiums and cost sharing in 2004.…

  • Pulling It Together: What Do We Want Health Insurance To Be?

    Perspective

    Trends in the health insurance marketplace show substantial growth in high deductible health plans, especially among smaller firms, where 35% of workers are now covered by plans with a deductible of $1,000 or more. That's according to our recently released employer health benefits survey, which we have been conducting now for ten years. The majority of these plans are simply high deductible health plans; only a minority are so-called "consumer driven" plans with savings accounts.…

  • Snapshots: Compensation for Workers with and without Access to Health Benefits at Work

    Other Post

    A newer version of this Snapshot is available here. Compensation for Workers with and without Access to Health Benefits at Work  October 2008 This paper compares the payroll and benefit compensation of workers that had access to employer-sponsored health benefits at work to that of workers who did not have an insurance offer.  By analyzing compensation differences within occupations and establishment sizes for those with and without access to health benefits, we provide new information…

  • Pulling It Together: Moving Away From Employer Based Coverage: Don’t Forget Public Opinion

    Perspective

    One of the underlying big issues in the unfolding health reform debate is whether most Americans should continue to get insurance through work where they get it today, or purchase it themselves in the individual private health insurance marketplace. Senator McCain promotes moving to individual insurance and having individuals rather than employers make coverage decisions, as has President Bush.  But this is not only a conservative idea.  Many on the liberal side -- such as…

  • Toplines: Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: Election 2008 – June 2008

    Poll Finding

    This document contains the detailed toplines from the June Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: Election 2008 poll. The poll involved a nationally representative random sample of 1,206 adults (including 1,066 who say they were registered to vote), who were interviewed by telephone between June 3 and 8, 2008. The margin of sampling error for the total sample is plus or minus 3 percentage points; for registered voters, it is plus or minus 4 percentage points. For…

  • Key Findings: Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: Election 2008 – June 2008

    Poll Finding

    This document contains the key findings from the June Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: Election 2008 poll. The poll involved a nationally representative random sample of 1,206 adults (including 1,066 who say they were registered to vote), who were interviewed by telephone between June 3 and 8, 2008. The margin of sampling error for the total sample is plus or minus 3 percentage points; for registered voters, it is plus or minus 4 percentage points. For…

  • Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: Election 2008 – June 2008

    Poll Finding

    The latest Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: Election 2008 poll finds that the recent economic downturn continues to create serious financial problems for most Americans. When asked about the impact of recent economic changes, nearly six in 10 adults (59 percent) report having a "serious problem" with one of seven major financial issues, including one in four who cite paying for health care as a serious problem. Not surprisingly, with gas prices topping $4 per gallon…