July 21, 2026
How Unaffordable is Health Care and What Can We Do About It?
KFF
Tuesday, July 21, 2026, 12:30 p.m.
For decades, the cost of medical care, prescription drugs and health insurance has consistently risen faster than general inflation and wage growth, posing financial challenges for government, businesses and people. KFF polling has found that the cost of health care ranks as the top economic worry for adults and their families and has implications for their financial security and access to care. Even people with insurance say they struggle to afford health care costs, and health care debt is a burden for a large share of Americans. Policymakers and experts across the ideological spectrum define affordability in different ways and have different policy solutions.
During the discussion, panelists will consider affordability from a variety of perspectives, including how to define affordability and the question of affordability for whom, how to measure it, and what can be done to address affordability and the underlying cost of health care.
Moderator:
- Larry Levitt, Executive Vice President for Health Policy, KFF
Panelists
- Sherry Glied, Professor of Public Service, New York University's Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service
- Benedic Ippolito, Senior Fellow in Economic Policy Studies, American Enterprise Institute
- Ashley Kirzinger, Director of Survey Methodology and Associate Director of the Public Opinion and Survey Research Program, KFF
