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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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  • Quantifying the Effects of Health Insurance Rate Review

    Report

    This report from the Kaiser Family Foundation analyzes the effect of government efforts to ensure that insurance premium increases are justifiable and provide value to consumers and small businesses. Rate review programs require insurers in the small group and individual markets to submit proposed rate increase requests to state or federal regulators, who determine if the requests are reasonable. The report finds that one out of every five requests submitted to states in 2011 resulted…

  • The Massachusetts Health Care Landscape

    Fact Sheet

    This fact sheet summarizes the Massachusetts health care landscape, including data on demographics, population health, the uninsured and the state Medicaid program. Fact Sheet (.pdf)

  • Medicaid Managed Care’s Impact On Safety-Net Clinics In California

    Fact Sheet

    Medicaid Managed Care's Impact On Safety-Net Clinics In California Medicaid Managed Care's Impact On Safety-Net Clinics In California was published in the January/February 2000 issue of the journal Health Affairs. The report provides an overview of Medi-Cal Managed Care in California, and its effects on community health clinics, and related issues. In order to better understand the impact that the Medi-Cal managed care program has had on California safety-net providers, the Kaiser Family Foundation supported…

  • What to Know About How Medicare Pays Physicians

    Issue Brief

    Each year, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) updates Medicare payments for physician services and other Part B services through rulemaking. This issue brief answers key questions about how physicians are paid under the Medicare program, and reviews policy options under discussion for payment reform.

  • Health Care Costs Top the Public’s List of Financial Worries, and Those Who Are Struggling the Most Want to Hear Presidential Candidates Discuss Economic and Health Care Issues

    News Release

    At a time when kitchen table economic problems are on voters’ minds, unexpected medical bills and health care costs top the public’s list of financial concerns, and voters who are struggling to pay their monthly bills are the most eager to hear the presidential candidates talk about economic and health care issues, the latest KFF Health Tracking Poll finds. Nearly 3 in 4 adults say they are worried about being able to afford unexpected medical…

  • 2019 Employer Health Benefits Survey

    Report

    Annual premiums for employer-sponsored family health coverage reached $20,576 this year, up 5% from last year, with workers on average paying $6,015 toward the cost of their coverage. The average deductible among covered workers in a plan with a general annual deductible is $1,655 for single coverage. Fifty-six percent of small firms and 99% of large firms offer health benefits to at least some of their workers, with an overall offer rate of 57%.

  • 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)

  • Prescription Drug Spending Under The MMA: Modeling The Impact On Out-of-Pocket Costs

    Event Date:
    Event

    This report projects the impact of the new Medicare drug benefit on out-of-pocket spending for people who enroll in 2006. The analysis is based on a model developed by the Actuarial Research Corporation for the Kaiser Family Foundation. The model generally conforms to the Congressional Budget Office’s assumptions and projections about Medicare drug benefit spending and participation rates for the new benefit and for the low-income subsidy. The report was released at a briefing in…

  • Pulling It Together: What Conservatives Won In Health Reform (And Don’t Seem to Know It)

    Perspective

    Conservatives obviously don't like what they call "Obamacare" because they think it expands the role of government too much and spends too much money.  But ironically, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) actually promotes -- though not explicitly -- something that has been a fundamental objective of conservatives in health care for years: high-deductible health plans with more "skin in the game." In a new study we just released, we commissioned three different actuarial consulting firms…