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“...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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How Unaffordable is Health Care and What Can We Do About It?

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On Tuesday, July 21, three experts joined Health Wonk Shop series moderator Larry Levitt in an hour-long discussion of health care affordability. During the discussion, panelists considered affordability from a variety of perspectives, including how to define affordability and the question of affordability for whom, how to measure it, and what can be done to address affordability and the underlying cost of health care.

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  • Medicaid and Managed Care: Implications for Low-income Women

    Report

    This commentary reviews Medicaid's role for low-income women and examines the implications Medicaid managed care on the delivery of health services to this vulnerable population. Today 40% of the Medicaid population, mostly poor women and their children, is enrolled in managed care. Medicaid agencies are hoping managed care will control spending and address longstanding problems with access to care. Low-income women have a number of characteristics that make them doubly vulnerable to have trouble accessing…

  • National Survey of Consumer Experiences with Health Plans

    Report

    A national survey of 2,500 insured adult Americans on their experiences with health plans-documents problems people have experienced with their plans, the impact of those problems, and how people resolve their disputes with their health plans. The survey was designed and analyzed by the Kaiser Family Foundation staff with advice and input from Consumer Reports under a joint project developed to help consumers resolve difficulties with health plans. Highlights from the survey were featured in…

  • Prescription Drug Trends:  A Chartbook Update

    Report

    This November 2001 Chartbook updates data from last year's chartbook, including information about prescription drug coverage, expenditures and prices, utilization, drug promotion, and the pharmaceutical industry.

  • Kaiser Family Foundation/Harvard University National Survey of Americans’ Views on Consumer Protection in Managed Care

    Other Post

    Kaiser/Harvard National Survey of Americans' Views On Consumer Protection In Managed Care 33. Earlier in this interview, you said you oppose a law requiring health plans to...(Insert--Read And Rotate). Would you still be opposed if health plans could decide for themselves whether to follow this practice, rather than be required by law? (Record Response) You also said you oppose a law requiring health plans to...(Insert Next Item) Would you still be opposed if health plans…

  • Kaiser Health Tracking Poll — November 2009

    Poll Finding

    The November Kaiser Health Tracking Poll shows little movement in measures of public opinion about health reform from recent months. Among the new findings is a ranking of the public's top priorities from among a list of elements of the legislation. There were both similarities and differences in priorities across partisan groups: while assuring the availability of affordable plans ranked in the top three priorities for Democrats, Republicans and independents, deficit neutrality ranked in the…

  • Health Savings Accounts and High Deductible Health Plans: Are They An Option for Low-Income Families?

    Issue Brief

    Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) are a type of medical savings account that allow consumers to save for medical expenses on a tax-fee basis. They are linked with high deductible health plans (HDHPs), and together these insurance and savings options represent a new approach to health care, commonly referred to as consumer-directed care. This brief, based on analyses of available data and research, finds that most low-income families would not benefit from HSA-HDHPs due to an…

  • Medicare Advantage 2012 Data Spotlight: Enrollment Market Update

    Report

    This data spotlight examines the growth in private Medicare Advantage plan enrollment in 2012, with a record 13 million Medicare beneficiaries enrolled as of March, representing 27 percent of all Medicare beneficiaries. Enrollment jumped by more than 1 million enrollees from the previous year and increased in every state except Alaska and New Hampshire. Medicare Advantage plan enrollees generally must pay Medicare's standard Part B premium, but more than half do not pay any additional…

  • Pulling it Together: What Conservatives Are Winning

    Perspective

    Conservatives are out of sorts these days about the direction in which health care is headed. They think the new health reform law expands the role of government too much and spends too much at a time when they believe deficit reduction should be a higher priority. The claims about death panels and a government takeover of the health system aside, these are principled positions for conservatives to take – they are supposed to be…

  • Health Care Costs: The Role of Technology and Chronic Conditions

    Event Date:
    Event

    The Alliance for Health Reform and co-sponsors presented the second event in a three-part series of discussions on costs, the factors driving them up, and what (if anything) can be done about them. This briefing takes an in-depth look at two of the most often cited cost drivers - technology and chronic conditions. For more information, please visit the Alliance's event page.   Full Video:   Part One  Part Two   The panel is moderated by…