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“...the search for a single top issue through polling questions — whether it’s health costs, or gas prices, or the cost of food — is artificial. People worry about and experience these costs together. There is no top issue, unless that issue is the catchall, ‘cost of living.’” — Drew Altman, KFF Founding President and CEO

Are Health Care Costs THE Top Issue for Voters?

In a new column, Dr. Drew Altman, Founding President and CEO, analyzes the polling on health costs as a voting issue and concludes that there is no one top voting issue. He writes: “I have come to the conclusion that the search for a single top issue through polling questions—whether it’s health costs, or gas prices, or the cost of food—is artificial. People worry about and experience these costs together. There is no top issue, unless that issue is the catchall, “cost of living.”

Health System Tracker

Small Businesses Could See Double-Digit Premium Increases in 2027, According to Insurers’ Preliminary Rate Filings

Nearly 300 insurers offering offering health coverage to small businesses reported a median proposed premium increase of 14% for next year, according to an analysis of preliminary rate filings from all 50 states and DC.

ACA Marketplace Insurers Are Proposing a Median Premium Increase of About 15% in 2027

ACA Marketplaces insurers are proposing a median premium increase of 15% in 2027, according to an updated analysis of 276 insurers with publicly available filings across all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

In 2024, life expectancy in the U.S. reached an all-time high of 79 years but remained years behind the average in comparable countries

Life expectancy at birth in the U.S. increased 0.6 years from 78.4 years in 2023 to 79.0 years in 2024, its highest-ever level. However, the average life expectancy in comparable countries was about 3.7 years longer than in the U.S.

Among adults 18 - 64 with private insurance, mental health and substance use treatment accounted for 10% of all overnight stays at hospitals or other medical facilities in 2023.

Using claims data from the 2023 Merative MarketScan Commercial Claims Database, this analysis describes the most common diagnoses for inpatient treatment and total associated costs, including patients’ out-of-pocket share.

New and noteworthy

How Unaffordable is Health Care and What Can We Do About It?

Event Date:

On Tuesday, July 21, three experts joined Health Wonk Shop series moderator Larry Levitt in an hour-long discussion of health care affordability. During the discussion, panelists considered affordability from a variety of perspectives, including how to define affordability and the question of affordability for whom, how to measure it, and what can be done to address affordability and the underlying cost of health care.

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  • KFF Health Tracking Poll: Public Weighs Political Consequences of Health Policy Legislation

    Poll Finding

    KFF's Health Tracking Poll finds that more than three-quarters of the public say they want Congress to extend the ACA enhanced premium tax credits that are set to expire at the end of this year. If the credits do expire and the average premium more than doubles, seven in 10 of those who purchase their own insurance say they would not be able to afford premiums without significantly disrupting their household finances.

  • KFF’s Kaiser Health News and NPR Launch Diagnosis: Debt, a Yearlong Reporting Partnership Exploring the Scale, Impact, and Causes of the Health Care Debt Crisis in America

    News Release

    KFF’s Kaiser Health News (KHN) and NPR today launched a yearlong investigative project that explores the scale, impact, and causes of the health care debt crisis in the United States. Drawing upon a special KFF poll conducted for the project, original data analysis, and hundreds of interviews, the investigation reveals a problem far more pervasive than previously reported. That’s because much of the medical debt is hidden as monthly installments paid via credit card, loans…

  • 2025 Calculadora del Mercado de Seguros Médicos

    Feature

    Esta calculadora ilustra las primas (el costo mensual de su seguro) y subsidios para las personas que compran seguro médico por su propia cuenta en el mercado de seguros de salud (o de intercambio) creado por la Ley de Cuidado de Salud a Bajo Precio (Affordable Care Act, ACA, en inglés). Con esta calculadora, usted puede introducir diferentes niveles de ingresos, edades, y el tamaño de su familia para obtener un estimado de su elegibilidad…

  • What’s Behind the Buzz about Site-Neutral Payments?

    Event Date:
    Event

    A panel of experts joined Larry Levitt, KFF’s executive vice president for health policy, for a discussion on the concept of site-neutral payments, including why it has become an issue for policymakers and private payers like insurers and employers, how Medicare payments currently work, how various proposals would change the law, and the potential impact of those changes.

  • Medicare Spending on Ozempic and Other GLP-1s Is Skyrocketing

    Policy Watch

    This policy watch analyzes the latest data on Medicare Part D spending on GLP-1 drugs, initially approved to treat diabetes but in high demand as treatments for obesity, and shows how spending on these drugs has increased substantially in recent years.

  • What is Medicaid Estate Recovery?

    Issue Brief

    Under estate recovery, state Medicaid programs are required to recover the costs of long-term care and related hospital and prescription drug services for enrollees ages 55 and older. KFF examines the wide variation in estate recovery practices across states as well as the criticisms of this policy, which have led to federal proposals to modify or reduce it.

  • 2023 Employer Health Benefits Chart Pack

    Feature

    This slideshow captures key data from the 2023 KFF Employer Health Benefits Survey survey, providing a detailed look at trends in employer-sponsored health coverage, including premiums, employee contributions, cost-sharing, abortion coverage, offer rates, wellness programs, and other employer practices.

  • Probing the Power and Practices of Pharmacy Benefit Managers

    Event Date:
    Event

    Pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) are increasingly scrutinized intermediaries in the U.S. health care system, negotiating discounts on prescription medications for health insurers and employers while collecting rebates from drugmakers. On June 14, two experts joined KFF’s The Health Wonk Shop and series moderator Larry Levitt in a 45-minute discussion about the power and practices of PBMs.