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The MIDTERMS

Democrats Hold a Nearly 2-to-1 Advantage Over Republicans on Handling the Cost of Health Care

Poll: Cost of Health Care and Gas Top Voters’ Midterm Concerns; Democrats Hold Significant Advantage on Health Care Costs and Cost of Living 

With the 2026 midterms about a month away, health care costs remain tied with gas as voters’ top midterm concerns and the Democrats hold a clear edge over the Republicans Party on who voters trust to handle many top electoral issues, including the cost of health care and the cost of living. Two-thirds of U.S. adults now favor Medicare-for-all, a new high in KFF Polling, but support shifts when competing claims from critics and proponents are heard.

New and noteworthy

Americans’ Challenges with Health Care Costs

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

Health System Tracker

Is This A Healthcare Economy?

Health care employment has grown faster than other sectors of the economy, with jobs in physician offices, hospitals, outpatient care centers, home health, and other settings increasing over the past year even as the rest of the job market plateaued. 

Cumulative percent change in health sector and non-health sector employment, January 1990 - August 2026

What Are the Recent Trends in Health Sector Employment

Health care employment continues to grow even as hiring across other sectors has plateaued. The health sector added nearly 379,000 jobs over the past year, a 2% increase, compared with just 0.2% growth in other non-farm employment, with outpatient care among the fastest-growing health care settings.

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.

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  • 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…

  • Health Care Debt In The U.S.: The Broad Consequences Of Medical And Dental Bills

    Report

    The KFF Health Care Debt Survey finds that four in ten adults have some form of health care debt, with most citing one-time or short-term medical expenses as the contributor. Many of those with health care debt report making personal sacrifices and enduring financial consequences as a result of their debt, while nearly one in five think they will never be able to pay off.

  • Private Insurers Expect to Pay $1 Billion in Rebates to Consumers This Year for Setting Premiums Too High Relative to Medical Costs

    News Release

    Private insurance companies are expecting to pay out $1 billion in rebates to consumers this fall under an Affordable Care Act provision that requires insurers to spend the bulk of customers’ premium payments on care, a new KFF analysis finds. Rebates are based on insurers’ experiences over the previous three years. This year’s total is roughly half the size of last year’s $2 billion, in part because 2021 was a less profitable year and because…

  • For ACA Enrollees, How Much Premiums Rise Next Year is Mostly up to Congress

    Policy Watch

    Most customers with coverage through Affordable Care Act's marketplaces will face big premium increases next year if Congress doesn’t extend the temporary enhanced tax credits included in the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021. If the outcome isn’t clear by summer, fall open enrollment could be a mess.

  • New Interactive Provides Essential Facts and Trends Related to Medicare Spending

    News Release

    A new KFF interactive provides essential facts and trends about spending on Medicare, the federal health insurance program that covers 65 million seniors and people with disabilities, or nearly 1 in 5 Americans. In 2020, Medicare spending accounted for 12 percent of the federal budget and 20 percent of national health care spending. Given its size and importance, the program is often part of discussions about how to better manage total federal government spending, health…

  • COVID-19 preventable mortality

    Issue Brief

    This updated analysis estimates that nationally at least 234,000 deaths from COVID-19 between June 2021 and March 2022 could have been prevented with a primary series of vaccinations. These vaccine-preventable deaths represent 60% of all adult COVID-19 deaths since June 2021, when vaccines first became widely available.

  • Strategies To Lower Drug Costs Top the Public’s Health Priorities for Congress

    News Release

    Against the backdrop of public concern about inflation and rising gas prices, proposals to lower what people pay out-of-pocket for drugs tops the public’s list of health care priorities for Congress, a new KFF Health Tracking Poll finds. Most (55%) of the public say inflation is the biggest problem facing the country. Fewer cite other issues such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine (18%), climate change (6%), the COVID-19 pandemic (6%), and crime (6%). The…