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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.”

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.

Health System Tracker

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.

Cost and Utilization of Inpatient Mental Health and Substance Use Treatment This analysis describes the most common diagnoses for inpatient treatment and total associated costs.

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 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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  • Web Briefing for Media: 2017 Kaiser/HRET Employer Health Benefits Survey

    Event Date:
    Event

    The Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research & Educational Trust (HRET) held a reporters-only web briefing on Tuesday, September 19 to release their 2017 benchmark Employer Health Benefits Survey. The 19th annual Kaiser/HRET survey provides a detailed look at the current state of employer-based coverage and trends in private health insurance for both large and small firms. Key findings examine average premiums for workers and employers and their rate of increase; average deductibles, drug co-payments…

  • The ACA Stability “Crisis” In Perspective

    From Drew Altman

    In this column for Axios, Drew Altman presents new data analysis showing how many people are impacted by premium increases in the non-group market, and discusses the implications. 

  • Visualizing Health Policy: The Costs and Outcomes of Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders in the US

    News Release

    This Visualizing Health Policy infographic looks at costs and outcomes of mental health and substance use disorders in the United States (US). Nearly 18% of adults reported having a mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder in 2015, including more than 1 in 5 women. Furthermore, nearly 3% of people aged 12 years or older reported addiction to or misuse of an illicit drug in 2015, including more than 7% of people aged 18 to 25 years.…

  • Kaiser Health Tracking Poll – July 2017: What’s Next for Republican ACA Repeal and Replacement Plan Efforts?

    Feature

    As the U.S. Senate continues to debate their plan to repeal and replace the ACA, the latest Kaiser Family Foundation tracking poll finds the public souring on the effort with a growing majority opposed to the plan and a large share that say the plan does not fulfill most of the promises President Trump has made about health care. Even among Republicans, the poll finds that about half would be “less likely” to support the…

  • Media Availability on Senate Health Bill

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    Event

    The Kaiser Family Foundation held a media-only conference call Tuesday, June 27, with key experts to explain the Senate Republican health bill and to answer questions about its implications and the CBO’s scoring of the bill. During the call, Kaiser's experts  answered reporters' questions about the bill’s potential impact and implications, including how premiums, tax credits, and insurer participation in the ACA’s marketplaces could change; how the bill would phase out federal funding for the…

  • Poll: Public Views the ACA More Favorably Than Congress’ Plan to Replace It, Though Republicans Favor the Replacement

    News Release

    Public Grows More Pessimistic About How Repeal Will Affect Them Personally Most (55%) of the public holds an unfavorable view of the Congressional plan that would repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, and the same share (55%) want the Senate either to make major changes to the House-passed bill or not pass it all, finds the latest Kaiser Health Tracking Poll. Three in 10 (31%) of the public hold favorable views of the American…

  • Kaiser Health Tracking Poll – May 2017: The AHCA’s Proposed Changes to Health Care

    Report

    With House Republicans passing the American Health Care Act (AHCA), their plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and the Senate currently debating the plan and discussing their own approach, the latest tracking poll finds more view the ACA favorably than view the AHCA favorably. The poll examines attitudes towards specific provisions included in the replacement plan and how the public thinks the replacement plan will affect their own health care.