Healthcare costs have overtaken food, housing, and utilities as Americans' top household affordability worry, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll released Thursday, which also finds broad criticism of Congress for allowing enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits to expire at the start of the year.
The poll, conducted Jan. 13-20 among 1,426 U.S. adults, found 66% said they worry about being able to afford healthcare for themselves and their families, ranking higher than utilities, food and groceries, housing, and gas.
KFF reported a margin of sampling error of +/- 3 percentage points for the full sample.
A majority of adults (55%) said their healthcare costs have risen in the past year, including at least 1 in 5 who said those costs increased faster than food or utilities.
Another 56% said they expect healthcare to become even less affordable in the coming year.
With less than 10 months until the November midterm elections, KFF found majorities across party lines said healthcare costs will affect their vote.
The poll found the issue is more intense among Democrat and independent voters than Republican voters, with two-thirds of Democrat voters and more than 4 in 10 independent voters saying healthcare costs will have a "major impact" on their 2026 voting decisions.
The survey was released as the enhanced premium tax credits that lowered premiums for many people buying coverage on the ACA marketplaces have expired.
KFF found 67% said Congress did the "wrong thing" by not extending the credits, including 89% of Democrats and 72% of independents.
Republicans split the other way, with 63% saying Congress did the "right thing."
The credits were temporarily expanded for tax years 2021 through 2025. In December, the Senate voted 51-48 against moving forward on a Democrat bill to extend the enhanced subsidies.
Early indicators suggest the end of the enhanced subsidies is already reshaping the ACA market, as out-of-pocket insurance costs were estimated to double without continued funding.
Reuters reported Thursday that enrollment for 2026 dropped by about 1.2 million from 2025 and that the average premium for subsidized enrollees was expected to more than double after the enhanced subsidies expired.
KFF found Democrats hold an advantage over Republicans on most healthcare issues, with a 13-point edge on healthcare costs.
The exception was prescription drug prices, where similar shares said they trust Democrats (35%) and Republicans (30%), which KFF linked to President Donald Trump's focus on drug pricing in his second term.
In December, Trump announced agreements with nine pharmaceutical companies tied to "most-favored-nation" pricing.
"This represents the greatest victory for patient affordability in the history of American healthcare, by far," Trump said at an Oval Office press conference in December.
Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
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