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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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  • Analysis of Benefits Offered By Medicare HMOs, 1999: Complexities and Implications

    Report

    This report analyzes supplemental benefits offered and premiums charged by Medicare HMOs nationwide in 1999, assessing the generosity of selected benefits, including prescription drugs. The study finds that the level of monthly premiums charged by Medicare HMOs, and the generosity of many supplemental benefits, especially prescription drugs, vary widely within and across markets. The study also finds that variations in benefits offered by Medicare HMOs can expose beneficiaries to complex choices and have a significant…

  • The Difference Different Approaches Make: Comparing Proposals to Expand Health Insurance

    Report

    The Difference Different Approaches Make: Comparing Proposals to Expand Health Insurance This paper estimates and compares the impacts of alternative mechanisms for expanding health insurance coverage. A variety of approaches-expansions of existing public programs, direct subsidies, and tax credits-and target populations-including children, poor adults, parents of Medicaid- or CHIP-covered children, and early retirees-are considered. The impacts of the proposals on coverage, costs and other program outcomes are compared. This paper is part of the Kaiser…

  • Making Medicaid Managed Care Work: An Action Plan for People Living With HIV

    Report

    This is an update of an earlier report also prepared by The National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA), with support from the Foundation. That report was the product of a 1996 meeting of people with HIV, their advocates, and researchers designed to provide information about Medicaid managed care for people with HIV. This new report updates information to reflect changes in the policy and regulatory environment since that time. Report (.pdf)

  • Managed Care and Low Income Populations in Texas: 1996-1998 Update

    Report

    This report, Managed Care and Low-Income Populations in Texas: 1996-1998 Update, updates our 1996 case study of Texas' Medicaid managed care initiatives and their affect on low-income populations. The authors conclude that Medicaid managed care in Texas has had mixed results. It is one of a series of reports from the Kaiser/ Commonwealth Low-Income Coverage and Access Project. This project examines how changes in the Medicaid program have affected health insurance coverage and access to…

  • Understanding the Effects of Direct-to-Consumer Prescription Drug Advertising

    Report

    Direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertising, particularly television advertising, has grown rapidly in the last few years. This nationally representative survey examines how consumers who are shown specific television prescription drug ads respond to such ads: what information they retain, what actions they predict they will take, and their views about this type of advertising. Report

  • How Well Does the Employment-Based Health Insurance System Work for Low-Income Families?

    Other Post

    Part 3 What Explains the Coverage Decline? Rapidly rising health care costs-or, more precisely, employers' responses to costs-have contributed to the widespread erosion of employer coverage. As employers have shifted costs to workers, participation has dropped. Low-wage workers have been disproportionately affected by rising costs, losing access to coverage as well as finding participation more difficult. Their problems have been exacerbated by structural changes in labor markets, which have weakened the tie between jobs and…

  • Pulling it Together: Last Week’s Health Reform “Shocker”

    Perspective

    Last week we learned that health reform could cost the federal government at least a trillion dollars over ten years, and that it will be really difficult to forge bipartisan agreement on legislation and keep major interest groups on board. This obviously brought more angst to the deliberations, several Republicans seized the moment to criticize the Democrats' plans, and the press was all over it, with many commentators declaring health reform in dire straits. But…

  • Kaiser Health Tracking Poll — December 2009

    Poll Finding

    The December Kaiser Health Tracking Poll finds a dip on several measures of public opinion on health care reform. The number of Americans who say they personally will be better off if reform passes fell to 35 percent in December, down from 42 percent last month. Meanwhile, 27 percent say they will be worse off, and 32 percent said they don’t expect to see much of a difference. Similarly, 45 percent say the country would…

  • Health Care Costs Survey – Toplines

    Poll Finding

    This document includes the toplines from the joint USA Today/Kaiser/Harvard School of Public Health survey exploring Americans’ views on health care costs. Survey Toplines (.pdf)