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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.”

Health System Tracker

Small Businesses Could See Double-Digit Premium Increases in 2027, According to Insurers’ Preliminary Rate Filings

Nearly 300 insurers offering offering health coverage to small businesses reported a median proposed premium increase of 14% for next year, according to an analysis of preliminary rate filings from all 50 states and DC.

ACA Marketplace Insurers Are Proposing a Median Premium Increase of About 15% in 2027

ACA Marketplaces insurers are proposing a median premium increase of 15% in 2027, according to an updated analysis of 276 insurers with publicly available filings across all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

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

Life expectancy at birth in the U.S. increased 0.6 years from 78.4 years in 2023 to 79.0 years in 2024, its highest-ever level. However, the average life expectancy in comparable countries was about 3.7 years longer than in the U.S.

Among adults 18 - 64 with private insurance, mental health and substance use treatment accounted for 10% of all overnight stays at hospitals or other medical facilities in 2023.

Using claims data from the 2023 Merative MarketScan Commercial Claims Database, this analysis describes the most common diagnoses for inpatient treatment and total associated costs, including patients’ out-of-pocket share.

New and noteworthy

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

Event Date:

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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  • PPO Operations and Markets

    Report

    , prepared by InterStudy Publications with the support of the Kaiser Family Foundation provides information about Preferred Provider Organizations (PPOs), including the key differences between PPOs and other health plan types. The report is based on in-person interviews with 25 executives PPOs and written survey responses from 19 of their respective firms, representing as much as 80 percent of the PPO industry. The report also provides information on the different services offered by PPOs; savings…

  • Managed Care And Low-Income Populations: A Case Study of Texas

    Report

    This study is part of a larger initiative, funded by both the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and The Commonwealth Fund. Case studies of seven states that are restructuring their health care systems for the Medicaid and uninsured populations: California, Florida, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, Tennessee, and Texas, are designed to provide early insights and timely analyses that will help states and other efforts shape rapidly evolving managed care systems and health reform programs for…

  • Understanding the Effects of Direct-to-Consumer Prescription Drug Advertising

    Report

    Direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertising, particularly television advertising, has grown rapidly in the last few years. This nationally representative survey examines how consumers who are shown specific television prescription drug ads respond to such ads: what information they retain, what actions they predict they will take, and their views about this type of advertising. Report

  • Federal Budget Chartbook 2001

    Report

    A new chart book examines Fiscal Year 2002 budget proposals by President Bush and Congress, focusing on their impact on health programs. It provides both an examination of how health care programs fit into the overall U.S. budget and a review of past budget trends and future projections for government health care programs. Chartbook

  • Changes in Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance Sponsorship, Eligibility, and Participation: 2001 to 2005, Full Report

    Report

    This report provides a detailed account of how employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) coverage changed between 2001 and 2005, particularly among employees (i.e., workers who are not self-employed). The report begins with a short description of the major forces driving employer-sponsored insurance: changes in the workforce and the rising costs of health insurance over the four year period. Next, the report examines the decline in ESI among employees and the reasons determining whether or not an employee…

  • Pulling It Together: Jobs, A Reason to Fast Track Coverage

    Perspective

    The two big topics in Washington right now are the economy and health care.  I've written before about how the two are linked, and in particular about how among the everyday economic problems people are having, paying for health care is a big one. But the latest numbers out from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show there is another link: Health care is one of the few relatively healthy parts of our unhealthy economy right now. Since…

  • Health Care and the Middle Class: More Costs and Less Coverage

    Report

    This analysis paper examines the availability, affordability and stability of the health insurance coverage of the American middle class, defined as those with incomes of $44,000 to $88,000 for a family of four. It also addresses the growing burden of health care costs for the middle class, the adequacy of today's health insurance plans to protect them from large medical bills, and the difference both make as individuals and families make health care decisions for…

  • Page Two

    Other Post

    Employee Contributions Almost 80% of covered workers with single coverage, and over 90% of covered workers with family coverage make a contribution toward premiums in 2004 (Exhibit C). Workers on average contribute $558 of the $3,695 annual cost of single coverage and $2,661 of the $9,950 annual cost of family coverage toward premiums (Exhibit B). Click on Thumbnail for larger image (opens in a new window) Click on Thumbnail for larger image (opens in a…

  • How Much Does Medicare Spend on Insulin?

    Issue Brief

    The price of insulin, used by people with both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes to control blood glucose levels, has come under increasing scrutiny as policymakers grapple with rising drug costs. This data note finds spending on insulin by Medicare and beneficiaries enrolled in private Part D drug plans has increased sharply between 2007 and 2017.

  • Health System Dashboard

    Interactive

    The Peterson-KFF Health System Dashboard examines the U.S. health system's performance in four areas: access and affordability, health and well-being, health spending, and quality of care. Users can explore trends over time, as well as disparities and differences across demographic groups.