Drew Altman

How can candidates reach voters on health care? Show they care? Have a plan? Not so much. Some surprising clues from polling in my new column: on.kff.org/4de0NsT

The biggest change in health care over my long career - the gradual shift from a nonprofit to a largely for profit system, including most non-profits who are driven by maximizing revenues. Whose different? A small number of critical safety net hospitals and community clinics.

Hospitals are responsible for the largest share of cost increases but have largely had it easy while drug and insurance companies have been villainized. They ARE more popular, but their armor may now be thinning.

@aawayne @dariustahir @APStylebook Well not according to AI;) “For formal writing, the safest default is health care as two words; healthcare is often used as one word in industry names or some publications.”

Huge news: I have just been informed that healthcare is now one word in @APStylebook

I was challenged to write about the problems with the U.S. health system in ONE PAGE (not the reasons for them or the solutions). What would you add/subtract? Remember, one page! My latest column: on.kff.org/4sP7PJe

Remarkable. Even with single payer advocates running, an HHS secretary and the issue on voter’s minds, not a single health question during the televised part of the California governor’s debate. Police 24/7 was more important.

@mattyglesias washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/…

I love what Allbirds did, and I am declaring KFF an NBA franchise.

Excellent Ron Brownstein piece on single payer. Its resurgence on the left as a political slogan outweighs its prospects. cnn.com/2026/04/12/pol…

No group is more screwed (in health research speak, faces more barriers to care), than the chronically ill uninsured. I explain in my new column: on.kff.org/4mhgHWk

This analysis is full of interesting stuff: technology slowed health cost growth it didn’t increase it; and price growth slowed; helping to bend the cost curve vs projections. brookings.edu/articles/has-t…

Two things candidates need to connect with voters on health:   + Convince them they really care about their health care costs + Have a simple, tangible solution voters can understand (even if it doesn’t solve the whole problem and isn’t a comprehensive health reform plan).

@larry_levitt If only we had thought if Foundayo!

We went through a brainstorming process of changing our name. Kaiser Family Foundation made no sense since we have no connection to Kaiser Permanente and are not a foundation. But, the names that emerged sounded like made up names for drugs. That's how we ended up with KFF.

Candidates and voters want simple, tangible plans that address voters top concerns (their costs) and show candidates care. But experts and stakeholders generate long lists of ideas and complex plans. My new column: on.kff.org/4bMtpJm

Gallup also finds health at the top now. A different take separating health costs from economic concerns and combining “availability” and “ affordability “, but however you ask it these days the public has health costs on their minds. news.gallup.com/poll/707732/he…

While everyone was focused on drug costs, hospitals were the largest source of recent health spending growth, and we went backwards on hospital competition. Most hospital markets in metropolitan areas (80%) became less competitive from 2015 to 2024. kff.org/health-costs/o…

Today’s new KFF poll. Lots of  people are using AI for health information. That’s probably not surprising. What is: many are doing it because they can’t afford medical care. on.kff.org/4lMR4wq

Why health care affordability will be a top economic issue after the Iran war. My latest column: on.kff.org/4splo2D

Simplest math ever. A 200 bill Iran war special appropriation = almost six years of extended ACA tax credits.

NEW. Marketplace enrollees are dropping coverage and switching to higher deductible plans, but the biggest effect of not extending the credits: more than half say they can’t afford food and other essentials because they have higher health costs. on.kff.org/3NKfN84