Rising US healthcare costs lead many to forgo insurance and care ahead of midterms
KFF Health News reports that Americans are skipping insurance, rationing drugs and delaying care as costs climb; a conservative blog calls healthcare a possible "sleeper issue" in the November midterms and blames Democratic proposals.
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The story, neutrally told
Centre · 1KFF Health News reported that rising healthcare costs are upending Americans' lives, based on reporters hearing from more than 130 people across the U.S. this year. KFF Health NewsN “Reporters have heard from more than 130 people across the U.S. who are trying to afford their premiums, copayments, prescriptions, and medical bills” Read at KFF Health News ↗ Centre · 1Those people said they are forgoing health insurance, rationing medications, cutting back on doctor visits and putting off procedures. KFF Health NewsN “People told us they are forgoing health insurance coverage, rationing their medications, cutting back on doctor visits, and putting off health procedures.” Read at KFF Health News ↗ Centre · 1Individual cases include an uninsured travel nurse in Florida who had a stroke and was billed $93,000 after finding his agency's plan, at $3,600 a month for him and his wife, unaffordable, and a Maryland woman with a $10,000 ACA deductible who puts a $659 monthly premium on her credit card. KFF Health NewsN “He hadn’t been able to afford his agency’s health plan, which would have cost $3,600 monthly to cover him and his wife. The hospital that treated him sent him a bill for $93,000.”“She puts the $659 monthly premium on her credit card” Read at KFF Health News ↗
Centre · 1Federal data cited by KFF Health News show overall health spending reached nearly $5.3 trillion in 2024, up from $3 trillion a decade earlier, and it is projected to reach 20% of GDP by 2032. KFF Health NewsN “Overall health spending hit nearly $5.3 trillion in 2024, up from $3 trillion a decade earlier, according to federal data.”“are projected to hit 20% of the nation’s gross domestic product by 2032, up from just under 19% today.” Read at KFF Health News ↗ Centre · 1The typical American family spends about $5,600 a year, or 9% of income, on premiums, out-of-pocket costs and health-related taxes, according to the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker. KFF Health NewsN “The typical American family spends about $5,600 a year, or 9% of their income, on health insurance premiums, out-of-pocket healthcare costs, and taxes that fund health programs” Read at KFF Health News ↗ Centre · 1Health economists quoted by KFF Health News attribute the price growth to high prices set by providers and drugmakers, hospital consolidation, expensive new treatments such as GLP-1s, inflation and tariffs, and more uninsured people, within a fee-for-service system. KFF Health NewsN “Hospitals are merging and using their consolidated market power to charge more.”““It’s really everything all together at once,” said Christopher Whaley, a Brown University health policy researcher.” Read at KFF Health News ↗
Centre · 1KFF Health News notes that the Republican-led Congress did not extend pandemic-era ACA subsidies and cut federal health programs, arguing government insurance is rife with fraud and waste, while the Trump administration is expanding plans with higher deductibles and lower premiums; it also notes that prescription drug prices fell by the most in decades this year. KFF Health NewsN “The GOP-led Congress decided against extending covid pandemic-era subsidies for Affordable Care Act plans and cut billions from other federal health programs”“Prescription drugs recorded their biggest price drop in decades this year.” Read at KFF Health News ↗ Centre · 1A mid-September KFF poll found healthcare costs top the public's affordability worries ahead of the November midterms, and nine in 10 Democratic and three-quarters of Republican respondents said the system needs a complete overhaul or major changes. KFF Health NewsN “Nine in 10 Democratic respondents and three-quarters of Republican ones said the U.S. healthcare system needs either a complete overhaul or major changes.” Read at KFF Health News ↗ Right · 1In a short opinion piece, Hot Air argued healthcare costs may be the midterms' "sleeper issue", citing a projected 30 percent rise in consumer health costs next year and employer cost increases of 7.2 percent in 2025 and 8.8 percent in 2026. Hot AirR “A 30 percent increase in consumer health costs projected for next year, on top of increases in employer expenses of 7.2 percent in 2025 and 8.8 percent in 2026” Read at Hot Air ↗
Right · 1Hot Air said no one offers a workable answer and criticised Democrats' Medicare-for-All proposal, saying it would cost as much as $40 trillion, a figure it attributes to Bernie Sanders, and lengthen waits for care; these are the author's assertions and the piece cites no sources for them. Hot AirR “Democrats are doubling down on their disastrous Medicare-for-All proposal. It will cost as much as $40 trillion, admitted Bernie Sanders” Read at Hot Air ↗
Every sentence links to the reporting it rests on. The pill in front of each says where its sources sit: Left, Centre or Right when one side supplies at least half of them, Mixed when they are evenly split. The number is how many outlets it cites.
Left0 outlets
No left outlet in our sources has covered this story yet.
Centre1 outlet
- Framing
- Human-interest, data-backed reporting on how costs push people to skip insurance and care, with causes explained by health economists.
- Emphasis
- Personal stories, spending data, structural drivers, and policy decisions by Congress and the Trump administration.
- Leaves out or plays down
- No discussion of Medicare-for-All or Democratic proposals.
- Charged language
- “all-of-us issue”
- For example
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““Now it’s become an all-of-us issue.”” — KFF Health News
“The reason behind those high U.S. healthcare costs is straightforward: The prices that clinicians, hospitals, drugmakers, and other players in the health system charge are high.” — KFF Health News
Right1 outlet
- Framing
- Short opinion piece treating healthcare costs as a midterm 'sleeper issue' and attacking Democrats' Medicare-for-All plan.
- Emphasis
- Projected cost increases, political stakes, and the claimed cost and wait times of Medicare-for-All.
- Leaves out or plays down
- Does not mention Republican policy decisions on ACA subsidies or health program cuts, the causes of price growth, or individual patients' experiences.
- Charged language
- “disastrous Medicare-for-All proposal”“death by queue”“truly unaffordable”
What every side reports
- Healthcare costs are a major and rising burden for Americans.
- Healthcare costs are likely to matter in the November 2026 midterm elections.
Where accounts differ
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Who is responsible and what the solution is
- Centre
- KFF Health News points to structural causes (high prices, consolidation, fee-for-service, tariffs) and notes the GOP-led Congress let ACA subsidies lapse and cut health programs.
- Right
- Hot Air says no one has a workable answer and blames Democrats' Medicare-for-All proposal as costly and harmful.
US health care costs topic
KFF Health News describes costs as a broad, structural burden; Hot Air describes them as an unaffordable expense with no workable political answer.
““We’re not talking about the uninsured or those who are low-income who are struggling now,”” — KFF Health News
“The problem for voters is no one has a workable answer.” — Hot Air
Left0 articles
No coverage yet.
Centre1 article
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The Cost of Healthcare Is Hitting America Where It Hurts: The Wallet
Sympathetic Long explanatory feature mixing patient stories with spending data and expert analysis of why US costs are high.
Right1 article
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Hot AirR · · Opinion
Is America’s Healthcare Crisis a Sleeper Issue for the Midterms?
Critical Brief opinion post casting healthcare costs as a midterm issue and Democrats' Medicare-for-All plan as the wrong answer.
- 26 Oct 09:00 First KFF Health NewsN The Cost of Healthcare Is Hitting America Where It Hurts: The Wallet
- 28 Oct 19:00 +58h Hot AirR Is America’s Healthcare Crisis a Sleeper Issue for the Midterms? Opinion
Times are when each article was published, or when we first saw it if the outlet gave no time.
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