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KFF/AP Survey Probes Rural Voters’ Increasing Anxieties About the Rising Cost of Living, Including Health Costs, Heading into the Midterm Elections

The KFF/AP Rural Voters Survey examines the views and political priorities of voters living in rural areas across the United States ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. The survey gauges rural voters’ top election issues, growing struggles with cost of living and health care costs, as well as views on the Trump administration’s health care policies.

Health System Tracker

How TrumpRx Brand-Name Drug Prices Compare

TrumpRx prices for brand-name drugs are about as likely to be higher as lower compared to average prices in other wealthy countries, according to an analysis that compares 32 brand-name drugs.

The MIDTERMS

“...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.”

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  • COVID-19 Vaccines Could Cost Billions of Dollars More Each Year If the Federal Government Ends Its Bulk Purchasing Program

    News Release

    If the federal government runs out of money to purchase COVID-19 vaccines, the per-dose price likely would skyrocket and could increase spending on vaccines by billions of dollars a year, a new KFF analysis finds. To date, the federal government has spent more than $30 billion on COVID-19 vaccines to encourage their development, guarantee a market, and ensure that the public can access them at no charge. The Biden administration has said it can no…

  • The Nation’s Largest For-Profit Health Systems Have Typically Had Operating Margins That Meet or Exceed Pre-Pandemic Levels

    News Release

    Despite higher inflation and dwindling COVID-19 relief funding from the federal government, the nation’s largest for-profit health systems so far this year have operating margins that meet or exceed levels in 2019 prior to the pandemic, a new KFF analysis finds. The analysis examines the financial performance of the three largest for-profit systems in the country, HCA Healthcare, Tenet Healthcare Corporation, and Community Health Systems, which collectively account for about 8 percent of all community…

  • KFF’s Kaiser Health News Investigates Private Equity’s Stealth Takeover of Health Care in the United States

    News Release

    A new investigation by KFF’s Kaiser Health News (KHN) lays bare the sizeable efforts by private equity investors to take over large and lucrative parts of the U.S health care system in recent years. KHN found that private equity firms have invested nearly $1 trillion through thousands of deals to acquire hospitals and specialized medical practices during the last decade alone. The deals, many of them unnoticed by federal regulators, typically result in a ratcheting…

  • Cost of COVID-19 Hospital Admissions among People with Private Health Coverage

    Issue Brief

    This analysis examines the cost of COVID-19 treatment for inpatient care among people with health coverage through large employers. It finds that in 2020, COVID-19 hospitalizations cost an average of $41,611, including an average out-of-pocket payment of $1,280 for people with large employer coverage.

  • COVID-19 leading cause of death ranking

    Issue Brief

    This updated analysis examines COVID-19's effect on mortality rates, and estimates that in January 2022, COVID-19 was number two on the list of leading causes of death in the U.S.

  • National and State Analysis of the Role of Health Care and Abortion in the Midterm Available through KFF Online Dashboard

    News Release

    Supplemental KFF Questions Added to AP VoteCast Survey Provide Deeper Insight About the Impact of Abortion and Health Care Issues Health Care Costs Were Among Economic Concerns for Voters Motivated by Inflation, and Abortion Was a Motivating Factor for Many Democratic Voters and Women Inflation was widely expected to be the driving issue for voters on Election Day, and poll results bear this out. However, beyond inflation, seven in ten voters said the Supreme Court’s…

  • Hospital Charity Care: How It Works and Why It Matters

    Issue Brief

    This issue brief examines the role that hospital charity care programs play in helping patients who are unable to afford their care. It describes how hospital charity care programs work, the amount of charity care that hospitals provide, relevant federal and state regulation, the role of Medicare and Medicaid in helping hospitals afford charity care expenses, and policy proposals related to charity care programs.

  • Half of All Hospitals Have Charity Care Costs That Represent 1.4% or Less of Their Operating Expenses

    News Release

    Half of hospitals reported that the cost of providing charity care to patients represented 1.4% or less of their operating expenses in 2020, though the rates vary widely from hospital to hospital, a new KFF analysis finds. Based on a review of hospital cost report data, the analysis finds some hospitals provide little or no charity care (0.1% or less of operating expenses at 8% of hospitals), while others provide far more charity care (at…

  • Nine Changes to Watch in ACA Open Enrollment 2023

    Policy Watch

    The 2023 Affordable Care Act (ACA) Open Enrollment period will run from November 1, 2022 to January 15, 2023 in most states, longer in some state-based marketplaces. This policy watch examines nine changes that may affect what enrollees pay for coverage, the size of tax credits for those eligible, and other changes that could affect enrollees' experiences.