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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.

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  • Section 2: Page One

    Other Post

    Although nearly all large firms (200 or more workers) offer health benefits, all small firms (3-199 workers) are only about half as likely as all large firms to offer coverage (Exhibit 2.2). Annual changes in the offer rate over the last several years have been small; however, the cumulative result is a statistically significant drop in the percentage of firms offering health benefits since 2001. This change is driven primarily by a decrease of five…

  • Health Care and the 2004 Elections: Health Care Costs

    Issue Brief

    Health Care Costs Download a printable .pdf of Heath Care and the 2004 Elections: Health Care Costs. IssueBackgroundSources of Cost IncreasesCost Control StrategiesImpact of the ElectionAssessing Candidate Positions Issue Health cost increases threaten to make health insurance less affordable for all Americans, and make it harder to extend coverage to the 45 million Americans who are uninsured. Rising health costs are also taking a larger share of government spending at a time of high and…

  • 2006 Kaiser/Hewitt Retiree Health Benefits Survey

    Report

    The 2006 Kaiser/Hewitt survey of large businesses that provide retiree health benefits to their workers assesses their evolving responses to the new Medicare drug benefit in 2006. It also looks at the rising costs and changing benefits of retiree health coverage overall in 2006, as well as the outlook for 2007 and beyond. The Kaiser/Hewitt study, the fifth joint survey since 2002, analyzes responses from a non-probability sample of 302 businesses with 1,000 or more…

  • Maternity Care and Consumer-Driven Health Plans

    Report

    Maternity Care and Consumer-Driven Health Plans This report compares out-of-pocket costs of maternity care under 12 consumer-driven health plans (CDHP) from the group and individual markets to a traditional health insurance plan. CDHPs typically have lower premiums but higher deductible levels than traditional health plans, shifting more of the financial responsibility for the costs of medical care to patients to promote more cost-conscious health care choices. In some cases, out-of-pocket costs under CDHPs may be…

  • Controlling Health Insurance Premiums: Perspectives from the States, the Federal Government and Industry

    Event Date:
    Event

    The Affordable Care Act creates a process for states and the Department of Health and Human Services to review “unreasonable” premium increases and provide information to consumers about the process. The rules governing this rate review process went into effect September 1, 2011. This briefing by the Kaiser Family Foundation, held on September 22, 2011, addressed how these new rules might work and what the implications may be for the growth in health insurance premiums…

  • 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…

  • Kaiser /Harvard Survey of Americans on Health Policy

    Poll Finding

    A telephone survey of 1,011 adults (between June 20 and July 9, 1996) about how health care reform (specifically Medicare reform, MSAs and the Kassebaum/Kennedy bill) fits into the upcoming November election. The survey was designed by the Kaiser Family Foundation, Harvard University, and Princeton Survey Research Associates (PSRA). The survey was conducted by PSRA. The The margin of error was plus or minus 3 percent. The survey data was released at a press briefing…

  • Beneath the Averages: An Analysis of Medicare and Private Expenditures

    Report

    This report compares Medicare and private health insurance per capita spending between 1970 and 1997, demonstrating that Medicare has done better or as well as the private sector in controlling the growth in health spending. Using National Health Expenditure accounts data, the analysis reveals the cumulative increase in per capita health care spending was lower for Medicare than the private sector between 1970 and 1997. Medicare most likely maintained its cumulative advantage, due to the…

  • Public Opinion Update-3006-Public-Opinion-Update

    Other Post

    Public Opinion Update Public Opinion Update Public Opinion Update THE UNINSURED The debate over how to expand health insurance coverage to the over 44 million Americans without it continues to be one of the most challenging issues facing policymakers today. This Public Opinion Update summarizes key findings from several surveys conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health and a new survey conducted by the Foundation in conjunction with the…

  • A Brief Overview of Major Features of Pending Patient Protection Legislation: House and Senate Versions of H.R. 2990

    Report

    During the 1999 legislative year, both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate passed legislation addressing patient protections under health care plans. The purpose of this brief overview is to highlight in broad terms the key similarities and differences between the bills in four general areas: scope of coverage; patient protections; benefit claims and appeals procedures; and ERISA preemption of state laws and health plan liability (including expanded patients' rights to sue and…