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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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  • Changes in Health Insurance Status over a Two-Year Period

    Issue Brief

    The ability to maintain health insurance in the face of rising costs and an uncertain economy is a key concern for families and featured prominently in the health reform debate. While the percentage of the population without coverage at any one time changes by only a relatively small amount over a one- or two-year period, the percentage of people who start out with coverage and lose it for a meaningful amount of time during the…

  • Snapshots: Illustrating the Potential Impacts of Adverse Selection on Health Insurance Costs in Consumer Choice Models

    Issue Brief

    A current strategy for addressing the cost of health insurance involves consumer-directed health plans (CDHPs). These plans generally are less expensive than more traditional health plan designs, but it is not clear whether the lower costs derive entirely from the new benefit structure or whether some of the savings result because these new arrangements attract a disproportionate share of enrollees in good health who have relatively low health spending. Public discussions of enrollment bias tend…

  • County-Level Analysis Finds ACA Premiums are Falling in Many Areas of the Country, Though Changes Vary by County and Type of Plan

    News Release

    Premiums for the Affordable Care Act Marketplace benchmark silver plan are decreasing 3.1 percent on average across the country – the fourth year in a row that benchmark premiums have fallen – though the changes vary by county, a new KFF county-by-county analysis finds. The benchmark plan premiums are important because they are used to determine the tax credits available to people who buy their own insurance through the Marketplaces. What people would have to…

  • After Pandemic-Era Policies and Enhanced Funding End, State Medicaid Officials Report Enrollment Declines and Upward Cost Pressures 

    News Release

    States expect national Medicaid enrollment to decline by about 4% and state Medicaid spending to rise by 7% in fiscal year (FY) 2025. These rates follow a larger but anticipated enrollment decline and state spending increase in FY 2024, as pandemic-era policies and federal funding expired, according to KFF’s 24th annual survey of state Medicaid directors.While state fiscal conditions remain stable heading into FY 2025, the longer-term fiscal and policy outlook for Medicaid programs is…

  • What are the Implications of the 2025 Budget Reconciliation Bill for Hospitals?

    Issue Brief

    On May 22, 2025, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a budget reconciliation bill that includes significant reductions in federal Medicaid spending to help offset the cost of tax cuts, along with changes to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), immigration reforms and other provisions. This issue brief discusses the potential implications of the bill for hospitals and explains how some hospitals (such as rural hospitals as well as urban hospitals that serve a large share…

  • What the Outcome of the Election Could Mean for Medicaid

    Issue Brief

    This brief examines the two presidential candidates’ records and other recent policy proposals that could inform starkly different directions for the program across key areas, including Affordable Care Act (ACA) Medicaid expansion, financing, eligibility, benefits, and cost-sharing, prescription drugs, long-term services and supports, and managed care.

  • Pulling it Together: 2012: The ACA, and More

    From Drew Altman

    What is remarkable about 2012 (and the current era in health policy) is how many big health policy issues and marketplace changes will be in play at the same time: HEALTH REFORM: There is the implementation of a historic but fragile health reform law, with a Supreme Court decision pending and so much hanging in the balance. MEDICARE AND MEDICAID: There are continuing debates about potentially big changes in Medicare and Medicaid, driven by the…

  • Chartpack: Kaiser Health Tracking Poll — September 2009

    Poll Finding

    This document contains the chartpack from the September Health Tracking Poll. The survey was designed and analyzed by public opinion researchers at the Kaiser Family Foundation and was conducted August 4 through August 11, 2009, among a nationally representative random sample of 1,203 adults ages 18 and older. Telephone interviews conducted by landline (801) and cell phone (402, including 123 who had no landline telephone) were carried out in English and Spanish. The margin of…

  • Chartpack: Kaiser Health Tracking Poll — August 2009

    Poll Finding

    This document contains the chartpack from the August Health Tracking Poll. The survey was designed and analyzed by public opinion researchers at the Kaiser Family Foundation and was conducted August 4 through August 11, 2009, among a nationally representative random sample of 1,203 adults ages 18 and older. Telephone interviews conducted by landline (801) and cell phone (402, including 123 who had no landline telephone) were carried out in English and Spanish. The margin of…