Health Cost and Affordability Policy Issues and Trends to Watch in 2024

While issues of health care costs and affordability may not be at the forefront of this year’s election issues, they remain a major concern among the public. About a quarter of Americans say they or a family member struggled to pay their medical bills just in the past year, and in recent KFF polling, voters said that health care affordability was very important to discuss in the election.

This new issue brief describes the health cost and affordability issues and trends that could reemerge this year, ranging from recent or proposed prescription drug pricing and transparency requirements to changes in how medical debt is treated on credit reports.

This brief is available through the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker, an online information hub dedicated to monitoring and assessing the performance of the U.S. health system.