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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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  • Affordability in the ACA Marketplace Under a Proposal Like Joe Biden’s Health Plan

    Issue Brief

    This KFF analysis finds that expanding Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium subsidies like Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has proposed would lower the cost of Marketplace coverage for nearly all potential enrollees, including the uninsured and others currently priced out of the Marketplace. Biden's plan would, however, increase federal spending, which we do not attempt to estimate here.

  • Kaiser Family Foundation/LA Times Survey Of Adults With Employer-Sponsored Insurance

    Report

    This KFF/LA Times survey explores the attitudes and experiences of adults with employer-sponsored health insurance (ESI), including views of their health plans and affordability challenges related to premiums, deductibles, and unexpected medical bills. The survey takes a special look at those in high deductible plans (including those paired with a health savings account or HSA), those with chronic health conditions, and those with lower incomes. It also examines factors related to health plan decision-making and…

  • ACA’s Maximum Out-of-Pocket Limit Is Growing Faster Than Wages

    Issue Brief

    This analysis finds that the ACA’s maximum out-of-pocket limit is likely to grow faster than wages and salaries, and is also expected to grow faster than the maximum out-of-pocket limit for Health Savings Account (HSA)-qualified health plans.

  • FDA’s Approval of Biogen’s New Alzheimer’s Drug Has Huge Cost Implications for Medicare and Beneficiaries

    Issue Brief

    The question of what would happen when a new, expensive prescription drug comes to market for a disease like Alzheimer’s that afflicts millions of people has loomed large in discussions over drug prices in the U.S. This brief analyzes the cost implications for Medicare and beneficiaries associated with Biogen's new FDA-approved Alzheimer's drug, which will cost $56,000 per year.

  • Early Results from Federal Price Transparency Rule Show Difficultly in Estimating the Cost of Care

    Issue Brief

    A new issue brief examines compliance with a new federal price transparency rule and variation in payer-negotiated rates at U.S. hospitals. The analysis looks at the websites of the two largest hospitals in each state and the District of Columbia, and finds that a lack of consistency in the data and limited compliance among the hospitals sampled makes it difficult to compare prices across facilities. The brief is available on the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker,…

  • Average Annual Growth Rates for NHE and GDP, Per Capita, for Selected Time Periods

    Feature

    Average Annual Growth Rates for NHE and GDP, Per Capita, for Selected Time Periods-HEALTHCOSTS Download Source Kaiser Family Foundation calculations using NHE data from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Office of the Actuary, National Health Statistics Group, at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/NationalHealthExpendData/ (Historical data from National Health Expenditures by type of service and source of funds, file nhe12.zip; Projected data from NHE Historical and projections 1965-2023, file nhe65-23.zip); Gross Domestic Product data from Bureau of Economic Analysis,…