Home Health Costs Topics

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.

Latest News

More KFF Health News

Stay informed.

Get KFF's latest on Health Costs

Stay informed.

Get KFF's latest on Health Costs

View the Latest: Health Costs

Filter

List Grid

481 - 490 of 1,588 Results

  • ACA Marketplace Survey Feature Image - Website

    KFF Follow-Up Survey of Marketplace Enrollees: Following End of Enhanced Credits, Half of Marketplace Enrollees Now Say Costs Are a Lot Higher, Most Expect to Cut Back on Basic Household Expenses to Afford Coverage

    News Release

    Following the expiration of the enhanced premium tax credits for people with Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplace plans, a new KFF follow-up survey of the same Marketplace enrollees KFF surveyed in 2025 finds half (51%) of returning enrollees say their health care costs are “a lot higher” this year compared to last year, including four in ten who specifically say their premiums are “a lot higher.”

  • A Note on How the War in Iran May Affect Health Care in the Midterms

    From Drew Altman

    In a new column, Dr. Drew Altman, KFF’s President and CEO, discusses the impact of the war in Iran and rising gas prices on voter concerns about health care costs. He writes: “Recently, we saw health care costs rise to the top of the public’s list of economic worries, ahead of food, housing, utility costs and the cost of gas….Expect gas prices to rise and health care costs to fall on the list of affordability…

  • Next Steps in Covering Uninsured Children: Findings from the Kaiser Survey of Children’s Health Coverage

    Issue Brief

    This issue brief provides key findings from the Kaiser Survey of Children's Health Coverage, including that many low- and middle-income working families with an uninsured child do not have access to employer-sponsored health insurance. The telephone survey of parents that was conducted in 2007 to learn more about children’s access to coverage and care and the health care cost-related pressures facing their families. Issue Brief (.pdf)

  • Pathways to Payment Innovation in a Post-Health Reform Era

    Event Date:
    Event

    The new health reform law contains a number of changes in the way health care is paid for, particularly in public programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. The Alliance for Health Reform and The Commonwealth Fund sponsored a May 10 briefing which explored topics such as how some health care providers will be paid differently under reform, what effect this might have on payments across the health care system, and how providers are reacting. For…

  • Toplines: National Survey of Households Affected by Cancer

    Poll Finding

        These toplines provide the complete survey questions and findings from the National Survey of Households Affected by Cancer conducted jointly by USA Today, the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health by telephone between Aug. 1 and Sept. 14, 2006. The survey provides an in-depth look at how families cope with cancer, and in particular, examines problems of health insurance and health care costs through the lens of those who…

  • Explaining Health Care Reform: What is Comparative Effectiveness Research?

    Issue Brief

    The brief examines current funding for comparative effectiveness research, the provisions included in the current health reform legislation, and issues related to which treatments that might be studied, whether and how to weigh costs of care, and how such findings will be used and shared with health-care practitioners and the public. It is part of the Foundation's series of Explaining Health Reform briefs on key concepts in health reform. Brief (.pdf)

  • A Medicare Buy-In for the Near Elderly: Design Issues and Potential Effects on Coverage

    Report

    This report examines a Medicare-based approach to reducing the ranks of the uninsured that would permit early retirees between the ages of 62 and 65 to purchase coverage under Medicare. The paper begins with an overview of the challenges of insuring the near-elderly and explores the potential effects of a Medicare buy-in on coverage of this population. The authors conclude that, unless premiums for such coverage were low or tied to enrollees' income, this approach…

  • New NPR/Kaiser Family Foundation/Harvard Kennedy School of Government Survey on Health Care

    Poll Finding

    A new survey by NPR, the Kaiser Family Foundation, and Harvard s Kennedy School of Government finds that many Americans have real problems when it comes to accessing and paying for health care, and even if they haven't yet faced a problem, many worry about getting and paying for care in the future. The survey also shows that, while people think helping seniors with the cost of prescription drugs should be a priority, most seniors…