Health Costs

The MIDTERMS

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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  • Poll: Public Divided on Repealing Obamacare, But Few Want It Repealed Without Replacement Details

    News Release

    As Congress begins to work on repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, the latest Kaiser Health Tracking Poll finds that one in five Americans (20%) support repeal alone, while three quarters either oppose repeal altogether (47%) or want to wait to repeal the law until the replacement plan’s details are known (28%). Overall, the poll finds that nearly equal shares say that the next Congress should vote to repeal the law (49%) and that…

  • Media Availability on Senate Health Bill

    Event Date:
    Event

    The Kaiser Family Foundation held a media-only conference call Tuesday, June 27, with key experts to explain the Senate Republican health bill and to answer questions about its implications and the CBO’s scoring of the bill. During the call, Kaiser's experts  answered reporters' questions about the bill’s potential impact and implications, including how premiums, tax credits, and insurer participation in the ACA’s marketplaces could change; how the bill would phase out federal funding for the…

  • Polling Data Note: Beyond the ACA, the Affordability of Insurance Has Been Deteriorating Since 2015

    News Release

    The debate about the future of the Affordable Care Act and its individual insurance marketplaces may be taking the focus off the affordability challenges facing the broader population, most of whom get their health coverage through employers, Medicare or Medicaid. New survey findings from the Kaiser Family Foundation show that health care has become somewhat less affordable even among those with health insurance. Since 2015, larger shares of people with health insurance say they have…

  • Web Briefing for Media: 2017 Kaiser/HRET Employer Health Benefits Survey

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    Event

    The Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research & Educational Trust (HRET) held a reporters-only web briefing on Tuesday, September 19 to release their 2017 benchmark Employer Health Benefits Survey. The 19th annual Kaiser/HRET survey provides a detailed look at the current state of employer-based coverage and trends in private health insurance for both large and small firms. Key findings examine average premiums for workers and employers and their rate of increase; average deductibles, drug co-payments…

  • President Obama’s Campaign Position on Health Reform and Other Health Care Issues

    Issue Brief

    During the 2008 Presidential campaign now President Barack Obama announced a comprehensive health care reform proposal and laid out his positions on a number of other key health care issues. The two documents below summarize these campaign policies and positions. They were prepared by the Kaiser Family Foundation with the assistance of Health Policy Alternatives, Inc., and are based on information compiled from Obama's campaign Web site, speeches, campaign debates and news reports. They are…

  • Strengthening Medicaid with Health Information Technology: Are Providers & States Up to the Challenge?

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    Health care providers can receive Medicare and Medicaid payment incentives when they adopt electronic health records and demonstrate their "meaningful use." Additionally, states must establish a website by 2014 for Medicaid beneficiaries to electronically enroll and renew coverage. Yet many challenges remain so that health information technology (HIT) can help the Medicaid program operate more effectively. How can Medicaid health plans and providers use HIT to provide better care delivery and improve health outcomes while…

  • New Report Looks at Health Care Trends in California Compared to Rest of Nation

    Report

    A new chartbook by the Kaiser Family Foundation shows that on most, though not all indicators, California's health care system fares poorly when compared to the U.S. as a whole. The report, Health Care Trends and Indicators in California and the United States, shows that many more Californians have no health insurance than in the rest of the U.S., but when they do have insurance it tends to be more comprehensive and cost less than…

  • Explaining Health Care Reform: Questions About Health Insurance Exchanges

    Issue Brief

    The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), signed into law in March 2010, made broad changes to the way health insurance will be provided and paid for in the United States. PPACA created a new mechanism for purchasing coverage called Exchanges, which are entities that will be set up in states to create a more organized and competitive market for health insurance by offering a choice of health plans, establishing common rules regarding the…

  • The $174 Billion Question: How to Reduce Diabetes and Obesity

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    Event

    Diabetes and obesity have evolved from a national public health concern to a problem of epidemic proportions — a very costly problem. The direct medical costs and the indirect costs of diabetes are estimated at $174 billion yearly. This briefing, sponsored by the Alliance for Health Reform and the United Health Foundation, looked at the scope of the problem, and some promising solutions. For more information, please visit Alliance's event page. Full Video   Speakers…