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The MIDTERMS

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

U.S. Health Spending Is Expected to Reach $9 Trillion by 2034

How Much is Health Spending Expected to Grow?

This chart collection explores how much health spending is expected to grow in the coming years, with a look at growth in prescription drug spending, out-of-pocket spending, and related trends.

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. 

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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  • How Affordability of Employer Coverage Varies by Family Income

    Issue Brief

    This analysis looks at the share of family income people with employer-based coverage pay toward their premiums and out-of-pocket payments for medical care. The cost of employer sponsored health insurance—including premiums, deductibles, and other out-of-pocket costs—has risen steadily over time.

  • Do People Who Sign Up for Medicare Advantage Plans Have Lower Medicare Spending?

    Issue Brief

    The analysis finds that people who switched from traditional Medicare to Medicare Advantage in 2016 had health spending in 2015 that was $1,253 less, on average, than the average spending for beneficiaries who remained in traditional Medicare (after adjusting for health risk). The findings suggest that the current payment method may systematically overestimate expected costs of Medicare Advantage enrollees. Adjusting payments to reflect Medicare Advantage enrollees’ prior use of health services could potentially lower total…

  • 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…

  • New KFF/Los Angeles Times Survey Highlights the Financial Challenges Facing People with Employer Health Benefits

    News Release

    A new KFF/Los Angeles Times survey of Americans with employer health benefits finds that although most are largely satisfied with their employer plan, many report financial challenges related to their health care costs, particularly among those facing high deductibles or suffering from chronic health conditions. The survey captures the experiences of the roughly 156 million Americans who get their health coverage through their employers, rather than through the individual market or government programs such as…

  • Deductible Relief Day: How Rising Deductibles are Affecting People with Employer Coverage

    Issue Brief

    This analysis examines how health insurance deductibles are affecting consumers with employer-sponsored insurance. Deductibles have risen in recent years and become an increasingly prominent feature of job-based health plans. "Deductible Relief Day" refers to the date by which average spending for people with employer-sponsored health insurance is sufficient to satisfy the average deductible.

  • “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.