As health care costs dominate the national political conversation, KFF’s 2026 Women’s Health Survey shows the toll those costs are taking on women specifically:

• Many women, even those with insurance coverage, have delayed or postponed care they thought they needed in the past 12 months because of cost.
• The cost of prescription drugs leads some women to alter their prescription drug use by not filling prescriptions, skipping doses, or cutting pills in half.
• Health care costs can force some women to make tradeoffs in paying for other basic needs.

Survey Methodology

The 2026 KFF Women’s Health Survey was designed and analyzed by women’s health researchers at KFF. The survey was conducted from March 11 – April 14, 2026, online and by telephone among a nationally representative sample of 5,854 adults ages 18 to 64, including 3,538 women ages 18 to 49. The national sample was drawn from two nationally representative probability-based panels, including the SSRS Opinion Panel.

Sampling, data collection, weighting, tabulation, and IRB approval by the University of Southern Maine’s Collaborative Institutional Review Board were managed by SSRS in collaboration with women’s health researchers at KFF.