Oct 15, 2019

The health care issues voters want 2020 Democrats to focus on during tonight's debate

Expand chart

Reproduced from Kaiser Family Foundation; Chart: Axios Visuals

Voters want to hear more from the Democratic candidates about health care topics that they believe have been neglected during the debates, according to a new poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

My favorite stat: A public option is much more popular than the Affordable Care Act, with 73% favoring the former and only 51% favoring the latter, Kaiser found. Medicare for All is also viewed favorably by 51% of the public.

Keep in mind that a public option was deemed too liberal to be included in the ACA before it passed in 2010.
The ACA is equally as popular as Medicare for All.
Don't think about this too long. Your mind may explode.

The survey was conducted Oct. 3 – 8 2019, among a nationally representative random digit dial telephone sample of 1,205 adults ages 18 and older, living in the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii. The margin of sampling error including the design effect for the full sample is plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Go deeper: Four health care questions for a better Democratic debate

Go deeper

Drew Altman, Kaiser Family Foundation

Medicare for All's popularity may have peaked

Adapted from Kaiser Family Foundation; Chart: Axios Visuals

Public support for Medicare for All might have peaked, but it’s still a powerful idea among many Democrats.

By the numbers: Support for the national health plan rose from around 40% in 2000 to a high of 59% in March of 2018, but had slipped back to 51% by October of this year.

Go deeperNov 6, 2019

Caitlin Owens

Employers are relying less on high-deductible health insurance plans

Illustration: Rebecca Zisser/Axios

Some employers are returning to offering traditional health insurance plans again, as opposed to relying solely on those with high deductibles, Kaiser Health News reports with NPR.

Driving the news: The percentage of companies offering high-deductible plans as the only coverage option is declining for the third year in a row in 2020, per a survey of large employers by the National Business Group on Health.

Go deeperOct 30, 2019

Caitlin Owens

Seniors struggle to afford health care

Reproduced from Kaiser Family Foundation; Note: Costs do not include premiums; Chart: Axios Visuals

More than half of Medicare beneficiaries with a serious illness have struggled to afford a medical bill, and some beneficiaries with chronic conditions pay an astronomical amount out of pocket for their care, two new studies find.

Why it matters: Medicare is supposed to be a safety net for America's seniors, but its lack of a cap on what beneficiaries pay out-of-pocket — and the fact that it doesn't cover some benefits — leads to many seniors falling through the cracks.

Go deeperNov 5, 2019