Guide
A Voter's Guide to Asking Healthcare Questions
This guide helps people ask better healthcare questions before and after Election Day, recognize when they are not receiving a direct answer, and hold decision-makers accountable for healthcare policies and commitments.
Primary audience: Patients and voters in the U.S. healthcare system.
Additional audiences: Family members and caregivers, patient advocates, community organizations, and others helping people understand and evaluate healthcare policy issues.
Topics Covered
- Questions to ask about healthcare affordability, including out-of-pocket costs, medical debt, and prescription drug prices.
- Questions about access to care, from in-network specialists and timely treatment to mental health services and rural coverage.
- Questions about consumer protections, such as prior authorization delays, coverage denials, and the appeals process.
- Ways to recognize common strategies used to avoid answering a question directly.
- Follow-up questions that turn general statements into specific, verifiable answers.
- Ways to keep asking elected officials about progress after Election Day.
Why This Resource Matters
People may have difficulty evaluating healthcare policy positions when candidates or elected officials provide vague or incomplete answers. The guide provides practical questions and follow-up strategies to help voters obtain more meaningful information and promote accountability.
What's Inside
- Affordability
- Access to Care
- Consumer Protections
- Recognizing Non-Answers
- Healthcare Accountability
Download the Resource
Formatted PDF
Includes graphics and layout.
Download PDF of A Voter's Guide to Asking Healthcare Questions (PDF, opens in a new tab)Additional Resources from Other Organizations
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Explore data and analysis on how the U.S. health system is performing, including health spending, quality of care, access, and health outcomes, and compare the U.S. to other countries.
- KFF State Health Facts (opens in a new tab)
Look up more than 800 up-to-date health indicators for your state, including coverage, costs, Medicaid, Medicare, and other policy-relevant measures, to better evaluate policy proposals and campaign claims.
- Congressional Budget Office – Health Care (opens in a new tab)
Read nonpartisan analyses and projections of federal healthcare legislation and spending, including how proposed laws are expected to affect costs, coverage, and federal budgets.
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The Health Guides, Visual Snapshots, and Clinical Practice Resources were reviewed by a physician for clinical accuracy and by other reviewers to improve readability, clarity, and ease of understanding.
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