Health Insurance Costs, Health Care & Health Care Services - Research, Public Opinion, Facts & Analysis

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2009 Kaiser/HRET Employer Health Benefits Survey
This annual survey of employers provides a detailed look at trends in employer-sponsored health coverage, including changes in premiums, employee contributions, cost-sharing policies and other relevant information.

Report Examines How Families Affected By Cancer Are Faring in the Recession
This report profiles six cancer patients and survivors and the challenges they face to help gauge how the recession and rising unemployment is affecting workers who are most in need of ongoing medical care. It is a follow up to Spending to Survive: Cancer Patients Confront Holes in the Health Insurance System, released in February.

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Health Reform Subsidy Calculator -- October 2009
This interactive tool illustrates the premiums and subsidies for those who purchase coverage on their own through an exchange or gateway because they don’t get health insurance through their employers, Medicare or Medicaid, as provided under the key Congressional reform plans.

Changes in Health Insurance Coverage, 2007-2008: Early Impact of the Recession -- October 2009

This issue brief examines trends in health insurance coverage from 2007 to 2008, a period marked by the start of a deep recession. It finds that the share of the nonelderly population covered by employer-provided insurance declined, the share covered by public programs increased and the number of uninsured people continued to rise.

The COBRA Subsidy and Health Insurance for the Unemployed -- October 2009

This issue brief written by Kaiser staff examines the potential impact and limitations of new temporary subsidies created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to help people maintain their employer-sponsored health coverage after a layoff.

Kaiser Health Tracking Poll—October 2009 -- October 2009
The October Kaiser Health Tracking Poll finds public support for health reform unchanged since last month, with more in favor than opposed.
Survey also shows about half of the public believes that if reform passes, help for the uninsured and changes in insurance market rules would arrive within the first year, years ahead of the timetables contemplated in the legislation.

Pulling it Together: The "Third School" for Controlling Health Care Costs? -- October 2009
In his latest column, the Kaiser Family Foundation's President and CEO explores the rise to prominence of the "Systems Reformers" and their place in efforts to control health care costs.

The Sleeper in Health Reform: Long-Term Care and the CLASS Act -- October 2009

This Kaiser briefing examines the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act, a provision in two leading health reform bills that would establish a national voluntary insurance program to allow for voluntary pre-financing of long-term care through payroll deductions and then provide a cash benefit to purchase services.

Explaining Health Care Reform: What is Comparative Effectiveness Research? -- October 2009
The brief examines current funding for comparative effectiveness research, the provisions included in the current health reform legislation, and issues related to which treatments that might be studied, whether and how to weigh costs of care, and how such findings will be used and shared with health-care practitioners and the public.

Strategies for Reining In Medicare Spending Through Delivery System Reforms: Assessing the Evidence and Opportunities -- September 2009
This report commissioned by the Kaiser Family Foundation assesses the potential for various proposed delivery-system reforms to strengthen Medicare’s long-term fiscal outlook.

Kaiser Health Tracking Poll - September 2009 -- September 2009
The September Kaiser Health Tracking Poll finds that public support for health reform ended its summer slide, reversed course and moved modestly upwards in September. The survey also finds initial majority support for taxing expensive health plans and imposing fees on insurers to pay for reform.

2009 Kaiser/HRET Employer Health Benefit Survey -- September 2009
This benchmark annual survey of employers provides a detailed look at trends in employer-sponsored health coverage, including changes in premiums, employee contributions, cost-sharing policies and other relevant information.

This interactive tool illustrates the premiums and subsidies for those who purchase coverage on their own through an exchange or gateway because they don’t get health insurance through their employers, Medicare or Medicaid, as provided under the key Congressional reform plans.

The October Kaiser Health Tracking Poll finds public support for health reform unchanged since last month, with more in favor than opposed.
Survey also shows about half of the public believes that if reform passes, help for the uninsured and changes in insurance market rules would arrive within the first year, years ahead of the timetables contemplated in the legislation.

In his latest column, the Kaiser Family Foundation's President and CEO explores the rise to prominence of the "Systems Reformers" and their place in efforts to control health care costs.

The brief examines current funding for comparative effectiveness research, the provisions included in the current health reform legislation, and issues related to which treatments that might be studied, whether and how to weigh costs of care, and how such findings will be used and shared with health-care practitioners and the public.

This report commissioned by the Kaiser Family Foundation assesses the potential for various proposed delivery-system reforms to strengthen Medicare’s long-term fiscal outlook.

The September Kaiser Health Tracking Poll finds that public support for health reform ended its summer slide, reversed course and moved modestly upwards in September. The survey also finds initial majority support for taxing expensive health plans and imposing fees on insurers to pay for reform.

This benchmark annual survey of employers provides a detailed look at trends in employer-sponsored health coverage, including changes in premiums, employee contributions, cost-sharing policies and other relevant information.

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Health Insurance/Costs

Americans receive their health care coverage from a variety of sources including private insurance provided through their employment or purchased on their own, and public insurance programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. About 160 million nonelderly Americans have employer-sponsored health insurance, and another 13 million purchase insurance directly from an insurer or HMO. Spending for health care services continues to rise, in total ($1.4 trillion in 2001; $3.1 trillion projected for 2012) and as a share of the country’s gross national product (14.1% in 2001; 17.7% projected for 2012).

Premium costs for people with private insurance have risen dramatically in recent years, with double-digit rate increases each of the first three years of the new millennium. At the same time, consumers have seen their out-of-pocket costs for deductibles, copayments, and other cost sharing rise significantly over the same period. While coverage availability has declined only modestly for those with job-based coverage, a slack economy and high unemployment have focused attention on access and cost issues faced by consumers seeking individual coverage. Coverage and cost issues have led to debate about how to control increases in health care costs and how to provide coverage for the uninsured.

Through its Health Care Marketplace Project, the Foundation provides information and analysis about issues and trends in health insurance, health care costs, and health care services. Descriptions of how the private health insurance market operates and how it is regulated are provided in a series of fact sheets, chart packs, and reports. Data from the annual KFF/HRET employer health benefit survey documents annual changes in the costs, availability, and benefits of job-based coverage. Information on insurance issues of importance to consumers, such as appeal rights and other consumer protections, is provided through reports and surveys. The Foundation also provides information on trends in health care costs and how these costs affect individuals and employers.