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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: Critical Path To Health Reform: Stage One

    Perspective

    Will there be a big debate about health reform in the general election? If there is it will elevate the issue further, engage the public, and create momentum and a mandate for action by a new President and Congress. If, however, the debate about health is tepid or health is eclipsed by other issues such as the economy and Iraq, momentum could falter. One measure of the level of debate will be whether or not…

  • USA Today/Kaiser Family Foundation/Harvard School of Public Health Survey: The Public on Prescription Drugs and Pharmaceutical Companies

    Poll Finding

    This poll, the third in a series conducted jointly by USA Today and public opinion researchers at the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health, by USA Today, the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health finds Americans greatly value prescription drugs’ potential benefits for their families, but most believe they cost too much money and many struggle to pay for needed medicines. The survey also provides a comprehensive…

  • Pulling it Together: Separating the Forest from the Trees in the Health Reform Debate

    Perspective

    The good news for those who care about health care is that the issue is rising again on the national agenda. If we have a big debate about health in the presidential campaign and if it is a factor at the polls in 2008, it will help create a mandate for the new president and Congress to make health care a priority in 2009. But the real health care debate has been delayed by the…

  • How Non-Group Health Coverage Varies With Income

    Report

    With some federal and state policy makers considering ways to encourage more people to purchase non-group, or individual, health care coverage, this new analysis by Kaiser Family Foundation researchers examines how often people at different income levels buy such coverage when they do not have access to employer coverage or do not obtain public coverage. The analysis finds that relatively few people at lower incomes purchase non-group coverage, with one in 20 purchasing it among…

  • How Much ‘Skin In The Game’ Do Medicare Beneficiaries Have? The Increasing Financial Burden of Health Care Spending, 1997-2003

    Issue Brief

    This study evaluated the changes in Medicare beneficiaries' health care spending between 1997 and 2003, and found beneficiaries spent a growing share of their income on health care. The results showed that median out-of-pocket health spending increased from 11.9% of income in 1997 to 15.5% in 2003, and about four in 10 beneficiaries spent at least one-fifth of their income on health care in 2003. Researchers using data from the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey found…

  • Characteristics of Frequent Emergency Department Users

    Report

    The increased use of U.S. hospital emergency departments has received considerable attention from both the health care community and policymakers in recent years. This analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation examines the demographic and health characteristics of people who frequently visit the emergency room to help understand why their utilization is so high. Using data from the nationally representative Medical Expenditures Panel Survey, the analysis finds that high emergency department users (those who made four…

  • The Burden of Out-of-Pocket Health Spending Among Older Versus Younger Adults: Analysis from the Consumer Expenditure Survey, 1998-2003

    Issue Brief

    UPDATED: An updated version of this analysis is now available online. Recent policy debate has focused on the issue of rising health care costs and whether it might be possible to control costs by requiring consumers to pay a larger share of their health care costs out of pocket. While most of the policy discussion has focused on people of working age, rising health care costs and the burden of out-of-pocket spending also affects seniors,…

  • Toplines – Health Tracking Poll — March 2007

    Poll Finding

    This document contains the detailed toplines from the first Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: Election 2008, which is tracking changes in the saliency of health as a political and policy priority, what the public’s priorities are for a health reform plan and whether any candidates are breaking through with the public with their health reform plans.  Toplines (.pdf)