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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."

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.”

Health System Tracker

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.

 

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 Do Health Expenditures Vary Across the Population? Five percent of the population made up nearly half of all health spendings, pending an average of $72,918 annually in 2023.

NHE explorer

National Health Spending Explorer: Get up-to-date information on U.S. health spending by federal and local governments, private companies, and individuals.

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  • Managed Care And Low-Income Populations: A Case Study of Managed Care in Oregon

    Report

    To gather early insights and timely information for state and federal policymakers concerning how the movement to managed care is affecting the poor and their access to care, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and The Commonwealth Fund are jointly sponsoring case studies and population surveys in California, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, and Tennessee.

  • Managed Care and Low-Income Populations: A Case Study of Managed Care in Tennessee

    Report

    TennCare represents one of the most ambitious state-level efforts to restructure Medicaid and expand insurance coverage to the uninsured. The case study shows that the rapid change caused considerable confusion for patients, providers, and health plans. The TennCare experience provides early insights into the issues that states will face as they move to enroll more of their low-income populations into managed care arrangements.

  • PPO Operations and Markets

    Report

    , prepared by InterStudy Publications with the support of the Kaiser Family Foundation provides information about Preferred Provider Organizations (PPOs), including the key differences between PPOs and other health plan types.

  • Visualizing Health Policy: Health Care Costs

    Other Post

    The September 2012 Visualizing Health Policy  infographic  examines health costs in the United States, including how costs have changed, how they compare to some other countries, and how they impact American families.

  • The Cost of Cancer

    Video

    This Kaiser Family Foundation documentary explores the financial consequences faced by three people, all privately insured, after being diagnosed with cancer. It was released in conjunction with a joint Kaiser/American Cancer Society report, "Spending To Survive: Cancer Patients Confront Holes in the Health Insurance System.

  • Health Affairs Article: Comparing the Assets of Uninsured Households to Cost Sharing Under High Deductible Health Plans

    Issue Brief

    Health Affairs Article: Comparing the Assets of Uninsured Households to Cost Sharing Under High Deductible Health Plans Relatively few uninsured households have enough financial assets to cover the cost-sharing in consumer-driven health plans tied to Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), according to this study by Kaiser Family Foundation researchers published as a Health Affairs Web Exclusive on April 15,…

  • Estimates of Medicare Beneficiaries’ Out-of-Pocket Drug Spending in 2006

    Report

    This report projects the impact of the new Medicare drug benefit on out-of-pocket spending for people who enroll in 2006. This analysis from November 2004 estimates that 6.9 million beneficiaries are projected to be affected by the coverage gap (the so-called "doughnut hole") in the standard Part D drug benefit.

  • Snapshots: Health Care Spending in the United States & Selected OECD Countries

    Issue Brief

    Health spending is rising faster than incomes in most developed countries, which raises questions about how countries will pay for their future health care needs. The issue is particularly acute in the United States, which not only spends much more per capita on health care, but also has had one of the highest spending growth rates.

  • Concentration of Health Care Spending in the U.S. Population, 2010

    Feature

    Concentration of Health Care Spending in the U.S. Population, 2010 Download Source Kaiser Family Foundation calculations using data from U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), Household Component, 2010.