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“...the search for a single top issue through polling questions — whether it’s health costs, or gas prices, or the cost of food — is artificial. People worry about and experience these costs together. There is no top issue, unless that issue is the catchall, ‘cost of living.’” — Drew Altman, KFF Founding President and CEO

Are Health Care Costs THE Top Issue for Voters?

In a new column, Dr. Drew Altman, Founding President and CEO, analyzes the polling on health costs as a voting issue and concludes that there is no one top voting issue. He writes: “I have come to the conclusion that the search for a single top issue through polling questions—whether it’s health costs, or gas prices, or the cost of food—is artificial. People worry about and experience these costs together. There is no top issue, unless that issue is the catchall, “cost of living.”

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  • How Many Medicare Part D Enrollees Had High Out-of-Pocket Drug Costs in 2017?

    Issue Brief

    The Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit has helped improve the affordability of medications for people with Medicare. Yet Part D enrollees can face relatively high out-of-pocket costs because the Part D benefit does not have a hard cap on out-of-pocket spending. This analysis presents the latest data on out-of-pocket drug spending among Medicare Part D enrollees without low-income subsidies who have costs above the catastrophic coverage threshold.

  • The Only Health Care Prices That Matter to Consumers

    From Drew Altman

    In this column, Drew Altman zeroes in on a key test for when the implementing rules are written for the new executive order on hospital price transparency: consumers will need to know what amount they must pay out of pocket to really help them shop on price.

  • The Silent Affordability Crisis Facing Sick People

    From Drew Altman

    In this Axios column, Drew Altman shows that employer coverage for lower wage workers is much worse than ACA marketplace coverage for similar populations. It’s a bigger problem we need to talk about more, he says.

  • “Deductible Relief Day” is May 19

    News Release

    Deductible Relief Day is May 19. That’s the date by which average spending for people with employer-sponsored health insurance is sufficient to satisfy the average deductible, the amount they must pay out-of-pocket for most health care services before their insurance plan kicks in to help pay the bills, KFF analysts explain in a new analysis. If you have not heard of Deductible Relief Day before, that is because we just invented it. But the issue…

  • Voters Are Tuning Out the Health Care Debates

    From Drew Altman

    In this Axios column, Drew Altman reports on new KFF focus groups with voters. They show voters are focused on the problems they have paying for care and navigating the health system, but have yet to tune in on the health proposals being made by candidates and elected officials, and don’t see them as relevant to their problems. 

  • Visualizing Health Policy: Barriers to Care Experienced by Women in the United States 

    News Release

    This Visualizing Health Policy infographic looks at barriers to care experienced by women in the United States. Women incur greater health care costs than men, particularly during the reproductive years. Despite a lower uninsured rate than men (11% vs 14%), women are more likely to skip a recommended medical test or treatment due to cost. However, cost barriers to contraception have decreased for insured women since the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA’s) coverage requirement took effect.…

  • KFF Health Tracking Poll – April 2019: Surprise Medical Bills and Public’s View of the Supreme Court and Continuing Protections for People With Pre-Existing Conditions

    Feature

    The April 2019 KFF Health Tracking Poll examines the public’s position on the future of ACA and its protections for people with pre-existing medical conditions, in light of the ongoing legal battle which may end up in the Supreme Court. With lawmakers proposing legislation to address surprise medical bills, this month’s survey also measures the public’s support for federal government action to protect patients from having to pay the cost incurred from an inadvertent out-of-network…

  • Poll: Most Americans Want Congress to Prioritize Targeted Actions that Address Personal Health Care Costs; Fewer Cite Broader Reforms like Medicare-for-All and ACA Repeal as Top Priorities

    News Release

    Most Do Not Want the Supreme Court to Overturn the ACA or its Pre-Existing Conditions Protections When it comes to tackling pressing health care issues, incremental actions to address personal health care costs take precedence over broader, more partisan reforms for most Americans, according to the latest KFF Health Tracking Poll. As policymakers jockey over Medicare-for-all proposals and the legal and political fate of the Affordable Care Act, the public is more likely to choose…