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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.

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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  • A Polling Surprise? Americans Rank Unexpected Medical Bills at the Top of Family Budget Worries

    News Release

    When it comes to family budget concerns, unexpected medical bills top Americans’ list of worries, with two-thirds (65%) of the public saying they are at least somewhat worried, including 35% who say they are “very” worried, the latest KFF Health Tracking Poll finds. Fewer Americans say they are at least somewhat worried about seven other potential family expenses, including their health insurance deductible, transportation costs including gas, prescription drug costs, their rent or mortgage, their…

  • Don’t Overhype the New Health Care Venture

    From Drew Altman

    In an Axios column, Drew Altman dissects the many dimensions of the health cost problem and discusses why the Bezos-Buffett-Dimon initiative is unlikely to have much impact on the larger health cost problems the public and policymakers care about most.

  • Snapshots: Effect of Tying Eligibility for Health Insurance Subsidies to the Federal Poverty Level

    Issue Brief

    Considerable attention has been paid in recent years to the rapid growth of health insurance premiums and its impact on coverage affordability. Premium growth has far outpaced growth in workers earnings, which means that workers have to spend more of their income each year on health care to maintain current coverage levels. Less attention has been given to the disconnection between the growing cost of health insurance and eligibility for health care subsidies in public…

  • Estimates of Medicare Beneficiaries’ Out-of-Pocket Drug Spending in 2006

    Report

    This report projects the impact of the new Medicare drug benefit on out-of-pocket spending for people who enroll in 2006. This analysis from November 2004 estimates that 6.9 million beneficiaries are projected to be affected by the coverage gap (the so-called "doughnut hole") in the standard Part D drug benefit. This estimate is based on projected enrollment in Part D plans of 29 million (Congressional Budget Office, July 2004), prior to implementation of the drug…

  • Health Affairs Article: Impact of State Tort Reforms on Physician Malpractice Payments

    Issue Brief

    A study in the March/April 2007 issue of Health Affairs analyzes the impact of state tort reforms on physician malpractice claims. The study finds that the tort law changes have had a measurable but limited impact on physician malpractice claims, depending on the type and strength of the tort reform. Commissioned by Kaiser, the study was authored by Teresa M. Waters of the University of Tennessee, and Peter P. Budetti of the University of Oklahoma, and Gary…

  • Inside Deficit Reduction: What it Means for Health Care

    Event Date:
    Event

    After much heated debate on the U.S. debt limit, the Budget Control Act of 2011 was passed on August 2, 2011, containing more than $900 billion in federal spending reductions over 10 years. The law also established the 12-person “super committee” charged with finding more than $1 trillion in additional savings. What exactly is called for in the law? What are the implications for health care programs, including Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP and the Patient Protection…

  • 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…

  • Assessing the Status of California’s Physician Workforce: Shortage or Surplus? — Issue Brief

    Issue Brief

    Assessing the Status of California's Physician Workforce: Shortage or Surplus? -- Issue Brief A 4-page issue brief that looks at recent estimates of California's present and future physician supply, various issues that affect the state s physician workforce, and approaches for ensuring an adequate number and mix of primary care and specialty physicians, as well as a balanced geographic and demographic distribution. The brief lists the panel for a California Health Policy Roundtable held in…

  • Key Findings: Kaiser Health Tracking Poll — November 2009

    Poll Finding

    This document contains the key findings from the November Health Tracking Poll. The survey was designed and analyzed by public opinion researchers at the Kaiser Family Foundation and was conducted November 5 through November 12, 2009, among a nationally representative random sample of 1,203 adults ages 18 and older. Telephone interviews conducted by landline (802) and cell phone (401, including 112 who had no landline telephone) were carried out in English and Spanish. The margin…