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

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2011 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.

Notes on Health Insurance and Reform
This series dissects and helps explain the implementation of the Affordable Care Act and the private health insurance market. The series is a product of the Kaiser Initiative on Health Reform and Private Insurance.

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A Guide to the Supreme Court's Review of the 2010 Health Care Reform Law -- February 2012
This brief examines the pending Supreme Court case challenging the 2010 Affordable Care Act, including the key constitutional questions issues and the parties' legal arguments.

How will the Affordable Care Act affect small businesses and their employees? -- January 2012
This fact sheet summarizes key provisions in the Affordable Care Act that may affect small businesses and their employees. The fact sheet explains the law’s small business tax credits and the Small Business Health Options Program exchanges to be established in each state by 2014, both of which are designed to make it easier for small businesses to purchase insurance for their workers.

Kaiser Health Tracking Poll -- January 2012 -- January 2012
The January Health Tracking Poll probes the public's views and expectations about the Supreme Court case on the health reform law and the public's knowledge and opinions of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's health care positions.

Establishing Health Insurance Exchanges: An Update on State Efforts -- January 2012

This issue brief examines states' progress in setting up the state-based health insurance exchanges through which millions of Americans are expected to purchase coverage under The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) beginning in 2014.

Pulling it Together: 2012: The ACA, and More -- January 2012
In his latest column, Kaiser Family Foundation President Drew Altman looks ahead at the wide range of health policy issues and marketplace changes that will be in play inside and outside the Beltway in 2012.

Kaiser Health Tracking Poll -- December 2011 -- December 2011
The December Tracking Poll finds the recent dip in support of the health reform law has been fully reversed, and the concept of health exchanges has wide, bipartisan support.

Copy of Snapshots: Compensation for Workers with & without Access to Health Benefits at Work -- December 2011
This report analyzes the differences in payroll compensation at companies where health benefits are and are not offered. It finds that workers at companies that offer health benefits on average receive more than double the compensation of workers at companies that do. It is part of the online Snapshots: Health Care Costs series, written by Foundation staff.

Illustrating Health Reform: How Coverage Will Work -- December 2011
A new interactive feature from the Foundation, “Illustrating Health Reform: How Coverage Will Work,” clarifies how individuals and businesses in a variety of situations could be affected by health reform. Featuring the YouToons characters from the Foundation’s “Health Reform Hits Main Street” animated video, the new feature makes it easy to see how people’s health insurance coverage could change under reform.

Webcast: New CMS Estimates of State-by-State Health Expenditures -- December 2011

On Wednesday Dec. 7, 2011 the Kaiser Family Foundation held a live interactive webcast to discuss trends in state health care expenditures and the implications for national and state efforts to constrain health care costs. The webcast examined new state-by-state estimates of public and private health spending from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

Pulling it Together: The Most Popular Provision in the ACA? -- November 2011
In his latest column, Kaiser Family Foundation President Drew Altman discusses the importance of a surprise finding in this month’s tracking poll – the most popular provision in the ACA is a requirement that health plans provide consumers with a short, easy to understand summary of their health insurance benefits and coverage.

This brief examines the pending Supreme Court case challenging the 2010 Affordable Care Act, including the key constitutional questions issues and the parties' legal arguments.

This fact sheet summarizes key provisions in the Affordable Care Act that may affect small businesses and their employees. The fact sheet explains the law’s small business tax credits and the Small Business Health Options Program exchanges to be established in each state by 2014, both of which are designed to make it easier for small businesses to purchase insurance for their workers.

The January Health Tracking Poll probes the public's views and expectations about the Supreme Court case on the health reform law and the public's knowledge and opinions of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's health care positions.

In his latest column, Kaiser Family Foundation President Drew Altman looks ahead at the wide range of health policy issues and marketplace changes that will be in play inside and outside the Beltway in 2012.

The December Tracking Poll finds the recent dip in support of the health reform law has been fully reversed, and the concept of health exchanges has wide, bipartisan support.

This report analyzes the differences in payroll compensation at companies where health benefits are and are not offered. It finds that workers at companies that offer health benefits on average receive more than double the compensation of workers at companies that do. It is part of the online Snapshots: Health Care Costs series, written by Foundation staff.

A new interactive feature from the Foundation, “Illustrating Health Reform: How Coverage Will Work,” clarifies how individuals and businesses in a variety of situations could be affected by health reform. Featuring the YouToons characters from the Foundation’s “Health Reform Hits Main Street” animated video, the new feature makes it easy to see how people’s health insurance coverage could change under reform.

In his latest column, Kaiser Family Foundation President Drew Altman discusses the importance of a surprise finding in this month’s tracking poll – the most popular provision in the ACA is a requirement that health plans provide consumers with a short, easy to understand summary of their health insurance benefits and coverage.

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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.