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A Preview of the Role Health Care May Play in the 2026 Election

Ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, this KFF issue brief examines the role health care has played in previous elections and what that may suggest about its potential role in 2026. KFF polls have consistently found that the cost of health care is an important part of voters’ economic concerns.

Affordable care act

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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

In 2024, life expectancy in the U.S. reached an all-time high of 79 years but remained years behind the average in comparable countries

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.

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National Health Spending Explorer: Get up-to-date information on U.S. health spending by federal and local governments, private companies, and individuals.

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  • Snapshots: Wages & Benefits: A Long-Term View

    Issue Brief

    Recent polls show that a substantial portion of families worry about whether their incomes will keep pace with rising prices generally and whether they will have to pay more for health care or health insurance.

  • What’s in There? The New Health Reform Law and Private Insurance

    Event Date:
    Event

    This briefing focuses on how the reform law affects access to private coverage, including the new federal high-risk pools, tax credits for small businesses, health insurance exchanges, the individual mandate and employer obligations. This briefing, cosponsored by the Alliance for Health Reform and the Kaiser Family Foundation, explored these and other issues.

  • A Look at Federal Health Data Taken Offline

    Policy Watch

    This post looks at federal government databases with key health data that went offline on Jan. 31, 2025, including several related to HIV, some of which had returned by Feb. 2, 2025. It briefly describing the affected databases, which include widely used, large-scale national health surveys, indices, and data dashboards, that inform research, policy making, and media coverage about health care and public health.

  • HST About 1 in 6 Adults Delayed or Did Not Get Some Form of Care Due to Cost

    How Does Cost Affect Access to Health Care?

    Issue Brief

    This analysis explores trends in how the cost of healthcare affects access to care in the U.S. using National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) data. In 2024, about 1 in 6 adults (17%) reported delaying or not getting healthcare due to cost

  • How Does Health Spending in the U.S. Compare to Other Countries?

    Issue Brief

    This analysis examines how U.S. health spending compares to health spending in other high-income nations. 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.

  • KFF Health Tracking Poll: Health Care Costs, Expiring ACA Tax Credits, and the 2026 Midterms

    Poll Finding

    Looking ahead to the midterm elections, health care costs are the public’s top economic concern, and many voters say the issue will have a major impact on their vote. On health care issues, including the cost of health care, voters currently trust Democrats more than Republicans, though neither party has an advantage on addressing the overall cost of living. Following the expiration of the ACA enhanced tax credits, two-thirds of the public say Congress did the “wrong thing” by not extending them.

  • Prescription Drug Discount Cards: Current Programs and Issues

    Report

    As policymakers consider a range of approaches to providing prescription drug coverage to the Medicare population in today s tight budgetary environment, one proposal that has been put forth by the Bush Administration is that of a Medicare-endorsed prescription drug discount card program.