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Democrats Hold a Nearly 2-to-1 Advantage Over Republicans on Handling the Cost of Health Care

Poll: Cost of Health Care and Gas Top Voters’ Midterm Concerns; Democrats Hold Significant Advantage on Health Care Costs and Cost of Living 

With the 2026 midterms about a month away, health care costs remain tied with gas as voters’ top midterm concerns and the Democrats hold a clear edge over the Republicans Party on who voters trust to handle many top electoral issues, including the cost of health care and the cost of living. Two-thirds of U.S. adults now favor Medicare-for-all, a new high in KFF Polling, but support shifts when competing claims from critics and proponents are heard.

New and noteworthy

Americans’ Challenges with Health Care Costs

This data note reviews our recent polling data that finds that many Americans struggle to afford many aspects of health care, including disproportionate shares of uninsured adults, Black and Hispanic adults and those with lower incomes.

Health System Tracker

Is This A Healthcare Economy?

Health care employment has grown faster than other sectors of the economy, with jobs in physician offices, hospitals, outpatient care centers, home health, and other settings increasing over the past year even as the rest of the job market plateaued. 

Cumulative percent change in health sector and non-health sector employment, January 1990 - August 2026

What Are the Recent Trends in Health Sector Employment

Health care employment continues to grow even as hiring across other sectors has plateaued. The health sector added nearly 379,000 jobs over the past year, a 2% increase, compared with just 0.2% growth in other non-farm employment, with outpatient care among the fastest-growing health care settings.

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.

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  • 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…

  • Testimony: State-Based Health Reform Efforts

    Event

    On June 16, 2008, Kaiser Family Foundation Vice President Gary Claxton testified about state-based health reform efforts as part of the Senate Finance Committee's Preparing For Launch Health Reform Summit. In his prepared testimony, he examined the role of Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program, as well as the way various federal laws and policies may limit innovation at the state level. Testimony (.pdf)

  • Snapshots: Offer Rates for Smaller Establishments by Business Age

    Issue Brief

    Employer-provided health insurance is the primary source of insurance coverage in the United States, covering almost 160 million people or more than 90 percent of the non-elderly privately-insured population.1 In recent years, the percentage of firms who offer such benefits has been falling; 69 percent offered health coverage benefits in 2000, whereas 60 percent did the same in 2007.2 Since employers are not required to offer health benefits to their employees, changes in the rate at which…

  • Public Views on Direct-to-Consumer Prescription Drug Advertising

    Poll Finding

    Mollyann Brodie, Kaiser vice president and director of Public Opinion and Media Research, testified before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations about the public's views of prescription drugs, the pharmaceutical industry, and direct-to-consumer drug advertising. Brodie's testimony was a part of the hearing titled, "Direct-to-Consumer Advertising: Marketing, Education, or Deception?" Testimony (.pdf)

  • Pulling It Together: Health IN the Economy

    Perspective

    I am writing this Pulling It Together column about this one chart and its potential interpretations and implications. Source: Key Findings: Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: Election 2008 -- April 2008, Kaiser Family Foundation, April 2008. This chart from our most recent tracking poll shows the economy rising as a political issue and health care falling, with Iraq in the middle. Findings from other polling groups will show the same thing for as long as the economy…