Health Costs

Affordable care act

Poll: Health Care Costs, Expiring ACA Tax Credits, and the 2026 Midterms

Heading into this midterm election year, the cost of health care tops the public’s economic anxieties, and more than 4 in 10 voters say the issue will have a major impact on their vote, a new KFF Health Tracking poll finds. Two thirds of public say Congress "did the wrong thing" by not extending ACA enhanced tax credits, but Republicans largely say Congress “did the right thing.”

Affordability and Spending

Our Darwinian Approach to Health Care Costs

Our Darwinian Approach to Health Care Costs

In his latest column, President and CEO Dr. Drew Altman presents his Venn diagram of health care cost problems and shows how, in our fragmented health system, reducing one health cost problem often makes another worse. "...Reducing health care costs has become a Darwinian game; everyone wants to reduce health care costs and spending – their own, often at the expense of someone else."

KEY RESOURCES
  • Health Policy 101: Costs and Affordability

    This Health Policy 101 chapter explores trends in health care costs in the U.S. and the factors that contribute to this spending. It also examines how health care spending varies and the impact on affordability and people's overall financial vulnerability.  


  • Americans’ Challenges with Health Care Costs

    This data note reviews our recent polling data that finds that Americans struggle to afford many aspects of health care, including disproportionate shares of uninsured adults, Black and Hispanic adults and those with lower incomes.

  • National Health Spending Explorer

    This interactive Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker tool allows users to examine five decades worth of data on health expenditures by federal and local governments, private insurers, and individuals.

  • Polling on Prescription Drugs and Their Prices

    This chart collection draws on recent KFF poll findings to provide an in-depth look at the public’s attitudes toward prescription drugs and their prices. Results include Americans’ opinions on drug affordability, pharmaceutical companies, and various potential measures that could lower prices.

Subscribe to KFF Emails

Choose which emails are best for you.
Sign up here

Filter

241 - 250 of 1,557 Results

  • The Flip Side of Higher Premiums: Better Coverage

    Perspective

    Time Magazine's recent cover story on health care – "Bitter Pill" by Steven Brill – has focused attention on hospital prices, especially for people paying out of their own pockets. This is not a new issue, but certainly one that deserves attention.

  • National Survey of Physicians Part II: Doctors and Prescription Drugs

    Other Post

    With attention focused recently on direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs, findings from a new National Survey of Physicians by the Kaiser Family Foundation shed light on another factor in drug promotion that has received less attention -- promotion to physicians.

  • Protection in Managed Care Plans: A Side-by-Side Comparison of Proposal Federal Legislation

    Other Post

    Part I: Congressional Budget Reconciliation Proposals A. Entities Regulated Issue H.R. 2015--House Budget Bill(Medicare) S. 947--Senate Budget Bill(Medicare) H.R. 2015--House Budget Bill(Medicaid) S. 947--Senate Budget Bill(Medicaid) Establishes new Medicare managed care program, "MedicarePlus;" MedicarePlus plan options include coordinated care plans (HMOs, PPOs), MSA plans (exceptions for MSA plans from some requirements).

  • A Study of Media Coverage of Health Policy 1997-2000

    Poll Finding

    The debate over President Clinton's national health care reform plan put health care policy at the forefront of the national agenda in 1993 and 1994. After the end of that debate, it remained to be seen whether or not health policy would hold the media's and the public s interest to the same degree.

  • Trends in Medicare Supplemental Insurance and Prescription Drug Coverage 1996-1999

    Other Post

    This paper, featured in the February 27, 2002, online issue of Health Affairs, examines trends in Medicare beneficiaries supplemental insurance and prescription drug coverage between 1996 and 1999, using the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS) Access to Care files. It also provides snapshot estimates of coverage among subgroups of Medicare beneficiaries in 1999.

  • Survey of Physicians and Nurses

    Poll Finding

    A national random survey of 1053 doctors and 768 nurses on their experiences with and attitudes towards health plans.

  • Post-Election Survey of Voters’ 1997 Health Care Agenda

    Poll Finding

    Post-Election Survey of Voters' 1997 Health Care Agenda A nationally representative sample of 1000 voters, conducted immediately after the 1996 election, examines voters' priorities for the new Congress. Balancing the budget, cutting taxes and spending on public education top the list of voters priorities.