The State of U.S. Health Insurance in 2022

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… In this data brief, we present findings from the Commonwealth Fund Biennial Health Insurance Survey to describe the state of Americans’ health insurance coverage in 2022. …

Forty-three percent of working-age adults were inadequately insured in 2022. These individuals were uninsured (9%), had a gap in coverage over the past year (11%), or were insured all year but were underinsured, meaning that their coverage didn’t provide them with affordable access to health care (23%).

Twenty-nine percent of people with employer coverage and 44 percent of those with coverage purchased through the individual market and marketplaces were underinsured.

Forty-six percent of respondents said they had skipped or delayed care because of the cost, and 42 percent said they had problems paying medical bills or were paying off medical debt. CONTINUED

Sara R. Collins, Lauren A. Haynes & Relebohile Masitha, Commonwealth Fund

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The Great Senate Stalemate

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… It remains entirely possible that November’s results will leave the Senate divided again at 50–50, something that has not happened in consecutive elections since the Seventeenth Amendment established the direct election of senators more than a century ago. …

One of the most powerful trends in modern politics has been for each party to consolidate control of the Senate seats in the states it usually captures in the presidential election. That’s lowered the ceiling on the number of Senate seats each party can win. And that lowered ceiling, in turn, has diminished each side’s ability to maintain control of the Senate majority for any extended period.

The Senate is therefore frozen in the sense that neither side, in normal times, can seriously contest more than a handful of the seats held by the other party. Paradoxically, it’s unstable in the sense that the shrunken playing field leaves each side clinging to tiny majorities that are vulnerable to small shifts in voter attitudes in the very few states that remain consistently competitive. CONTINUED

Ronald Brownstein, The Atlantic

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Fox News Poll: Georgia races see split decision, with Warnock and Kemp ahead

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With just 6 weeks until the midterm election, the latest Fox News survey among Georgia registered voters shows Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock maintaining an edge over Republican Herschel Walker, while incumbent Republican Gov. Brian Kemp widens his lead against Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams.

The poll, released Wednesday, finds Warnock up 5 points over Walker (46-41%), similar to his 4-point edge in July (46-42%). …

In the Georgia governor’s race, support for Kemp is 50%, up 3 points since July, giving him a 7-point lead over Abrams who sits at 43%, relatively unchanged from two months ago (44%). CONTINUED

Victoria Balara, Fox News

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Fox News Poll: Pennsylvania Senate race narrows

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Democrat John Fetterman tops Republican Mehmet Oz among Pennsylvania voters by 45-41%, in a Fox News survey released Wednesday. That 4-point edge is within the poll’s margin of sampling error, and down from an 11-point advantage in late July. It is notable neither candidate receives majority support. …

In the Pennsylvania governor’s race, a slim majority backs Democrat Josh Shapiro (51%) over Republican Doug Mastriano (40%). That’s mostly unchanged since July (50-40%). CONTINUED

Dana Blanton, Fox News

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Abortion impact on elections

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Issues are the accepted language of political campaigning. But rarely, if ever, has a single issue so transformed the political landscape in the weeks before an election as abortion seems to have done this year.

In a country that generally supports abortion rights but has long been falsely confident that those rights faced no threat, the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision overturning Roe v. Wade has visibly altered the political dynamic across the country.

As I have argued here previously, improving fundamentals — the economy, presidential approval, etc. — has contributed to Democrats’ now stronger standing. But the data make it hard to argue against the court’s decision also playing a key role. CONTINUED

Mark Mellman (Mellman Group), The Hill

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Virginia: Possible 2024 Senate Matchup

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The 2022 annual statewide survey from the Center for Leadership and Media Studies at the University of Mary Washington focuses on current contests this fall, with one notable forecast. If Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) and U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine (D) face off in a possible 2024 U.S. Senate contest, 41 percent of Virginians would support Kaine, while 39 percent could support Youngkin, according to this year’s survey. …

Kaine’s support is strongest in Northern Virginia and in the Tidewater region, while Youngkin’s support is strongest in south Central Virginia and in the state’s western and Northwest regions. Among women surveyed, Kaine has a 42 percent to 36 percent advantage; Youngkin has a 42 percent to 40 percent advantage among men. CONTINUED

Center for Leadership and Media Studies, University of Mary Washington

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