Healthcare affordability remains at the top of voters’ minds for the upcoming 2026 midterm elections, though fraud discussions now appear to be gaining traction as well, according to recent polling from KFF.
A majority of Democratic and independent voters say it is "extremely important" that candidates talk about healthcare costs (60% and 55%), while Republican voters most often (55%) said it is "extremely important" for candidates to discuss fraud in government health programs.
Across party lines, six in 10 adults say they are “very” (27%) or “somewhat worried” (35%) about affording healthcare costs for themselves and their families, which is defined as including the cost of health insurance and out-of-pocket costs. Over half of voters overall said that it is extremely important for candidates to address these costs in the midterms.
Although there is agreement across partisan lines that healthcare issues need to be addressed in the midterms, Republican and Democratic voters disagree on priorities within the healthcare space.
Democrats are primarily interested in healthcare costs, but they also placed heavy weight on the future of Medicare (61%), healthcare costs (60%), the future of Medicaid (56%) and the future of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) (54%).
Meanwhile, independent voters agreed that healthcare costs are an "extremely important" issue, followed by the future of Medicare (46%), and fraud in health programs (42%).
The top "extremely important" healthcare issue for Republicans is fraud in government health programs. Its 55% top billing was 18 percentage points ahead of healthcare costs and 19 above the future of Medicare, which are their second and third highest priorities.
This interest in fraud “comes as the Trump administration has made fraud a key talking point in discussions of lower healthcare costs,” KFF noted. Recent rulemaking from healthcare agencies have often included policy changes leaders have said are intended to reduce "fraud, waste and abuse," or to close "loopholes" policymakers said have been used to pull funds from government health programs.
Voters across party lines agree that there is some fraud in government health programs, but they see other areas of government where fraud is more widespread. Between three and four out of 10 voters agree that there is “a lot” of fraud in government health programs, while over half agree that there is “a lot” of fraud in the federal tax system.
Perceptions of fraud in the health system are divided along party lines, however, with Republican voters twice as likely as Democratic voters to say there is “a lot” of fraud in Medicaid, Medicare and the ACA Marketplaces. Democratic voters and Republican voters agree on the main source of the fraud, with more than half of voters attributing it primarily to providers in Medicare and Medicaid.
Fraud is often primarily attributed to healthcare providers regardless of party affiliation, as about half of all survey respondents pointed their fingers at healthcare providers "including private doctors' offices and hospital systems" in Medicare (53%) and Medicaid (49%).
Republican voters, however, are more likely than Democrat or independent voters to believe that fraud is primarily carried out by individual actors in Medicaid (27% versus 14% and 16% respectively) and Medicare (18% versus 10% and 12%).
A substantial portion of voters (one in five Republicans, one in three Democrats/Independents) remain unsure about how who is most responsible for fraud in these programs.
Voters across party lines do not expect their own healthcare costs to be reduced by Trump’s efforts to reduce fraud in federal health programs, according to the responses, but Republicans are more likely to believe that there will be major reductions in federal health spending overall. Furthermore, KFF wrote in the report that “recovered fraud dollars in Medicaid are a small percentage of health spending overall, and savings in the federal programs are unlikely to result in substantial individual out-of-pocket savings.”
More than seven in 10 voters believe that a higher priority for managing the Medicaid program should be ensuring that eligible people have access to the care they need, even if it means some fraud may occur, while 28% say preventing fraud should be the priority, even if it means some people who are eligible may have less access to certain services.
This is also divided along party lines, however, with 84% of Democratic voters and three in four independent voters saying ensuring access to care should be prioritized over preventing fraud. Republican voters have an even split, with about half prioritizing access (52%) and half prioritizing fraud prevention (47%).
Among Republican voters, those who do not support the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement lean more toward prioritizing access to care (62%).
A majority of voters also agree that Trump’s approach to tackling fraud in federal health programs, including deferring federal Medicaid payments in Minnesota and California and denying recertification of the MFCUs in Hawaii and New York, is “very” or “somewhat likely” to cause some eligible low-income people to lose access to healthcare services they rely on.
Republicans have more faith than Democrats that Trump’s approach will significantly reduce fraud in state Medicaid programs (77% versus 34%) and save taxpayers money (73% versus 24%).
Nearly two-thirds of voters (65%) say this action to delay Medicaid funding is mostly motivated by politics, while one-third say it is mostly motivated by wanting to reduce fraud to protect Medicaid (35%). Also, a majority of Democrat (90%) and Independent voters (69%) said it was very or somewhat likely that these delays unfairly target Democratic-led states based on politics, while only 34% of Republicans feel the same way.