Home Health Costs Topics

Health Costs

The MIDTERMS

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.

Latest News

No Posts to Show

More KFF Health News

View the Latest: Health Costs

Filter

List Grid

1,481 - 1,490 of 1,588 Results

  • A Consumer Guide to Handling Disputes with Your Employer or Private Health Plan

    Report

    Most people get their health care through some form of managed care plan – a health maintenance organization, preferred provider organization, or point-of-service option. Most of the time, people receive the care they need, but the potential exists for disagreements over the services that will be provided or paid for by health plans. Health plans are required to follow state and federal rules for handling their enrollee’s complaints and appeals inside the health plan, known…

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

    Issue Brief

    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. Surveys of employers indicate that smaller and lower wage firms are less likely to offer health benefits to workers, but do not provide detailed information about wage and benefit differences for workers with and without an offer of health benefits working in different settings.1 In this Snapshot,…

  • California Health Care Chartbook: Key Data and Trends

    Report

    This chartbook provides California and U.S. data and trend analysis on a broad range of health system and financing indicators, including demographics and health status data, insurance coverage and the uninsured, employer health insurance premiums and offer rates, Medicaid and Medicare enrollment and spending, and health care industry trends. Chartbook (.pdf)

  • Covering the Low-Income Uninsured: The Case For Expanding Public Programs

    Issue Brief

    An article in the January/February 2001 issue of Health Affairs by Judith Feder, Larry Levitt, Ellen O’Brien, and Diane Rowland assesses how best to expand health insurance coverage for the low-income uninsured. The article concludes that despite flaws in existing public programs, which can and should be remedied, strengthening programs like Medicaid and CHIP establishes a foundation for truly effective coverage for all low-income Americans. Available at www.healthaffairs.org.

  • 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…

  • Retiree Health Benefits in 2003: Employer Survey

    Report

    This survey, conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation and Hewitt Associates between June and September 2003 provides detailed information on retiree health programs offered by large private-sector employers. The data in this survey reflect the responses of 408 large firms (private-sector employers with 1,000 or more workers) and provides information on eligibility, benefits, premiums, and total cost in 2003, and offers insights as to what changes employers say they are likely to make in the…

  • Coverage and Cost Impacts of the President’s Health Insurance Tax Credit and Tax Deduction Proposals

    Issue Brief

    This issue brief looks at the coverage impacts and costs of two components of the administration’s FY 2005 budget proposals to increase the affordability of health insurance: a new tax credit for people purchasing non-group health insurance and a new tax deduction for premiums for high-deductible, non-group health insurance policies. The estimates were prepared by Jonathan Gruber, Ph.D., Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, using a micro-simulation model developed in conjunction with…

  • Section 11: Retiree Health Benefits

    Report

    Exhibit 11.1 Exhibit 11.4 Exhibit 11.2 Exhibit 11.5 Exhibit 11.3   11 Twenty-eight percent of Medicare beneficiaries receive prescription drug coverage from an employer, a far higher number than receive coverage through a Medicare HMO (15%), Medigap (7%) or Medicaid (10%). Laschober et. al., Health Affairs, February 2002.

  • Health Care and the 2004 Elections: Medical Liability Reform

    Issue Brief

    Medical Liability Reform   Download a printable .pdf of Health Care and the 2004 Elections: Medical Liability Reform. IssueBackgroundOptions for Assuring Access to Affordable Liability CoverageAssessing Candidate PositionsIssue Sharp increases in medical liability insurance premiums in recent years, and the withdrawal of some insurers from this market have focused the attention of health care providers, patients, and policymakers on reform of the medical liability system. Of additional concern is that the fear of liability causes…

  • The Distributional Consequences of  Medicare Premium Support Proposal

    Other Post

    The Distributional Consequences of a Medicare Premium Support Proposal This article analyzes the expected distributional impact of enacting a premium support proposal for Medicare based on legislation introduced by Sen. Breaux and Sen. Frist in 1999. This legislation suggested that the Federal Employees Health Benefits plan be used as a model for Medicare. The article simulates impacts in three areas: among beneficiaries who choose to retain fee-for-service coverage, between different geographic areas, and according to…