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  • Why Premiums Will Change for People Who Now Have Nongroup Insurance

    Perspective

    The federal government recently released draft regulations that address the benefits, market rules, and rating practices for nongroup coverage. Before reform, the nongroup market was widely acknowledged to be broken, with restricted access, limited benefits, high administrative costs, and frequent and large premium increases subject to inadequate oversight. Recent requests for large premium hikes for nongroup coverage in some states, at a time when the group market is experiencing very low increases, have revived concerns about current pricing…

  • What Issues Are Most Important To Voters in This Election? The Answer Depends On The Question

    Perspective

    Election polling has entered hyperdrive, with several polls released daily. As Nov. 6 draws near, it is important to keep in mind that question wording and format do matter, sometimes quite a lot. In our October Kaiser Health Tracking Poll, we measured voters’ top issue priorities two ways: First, we asked one group to name the most important issue to their vote for president in an open-end question, allowing respondents to say in their own…

  • What Do They Mean When They Talk About Pre-Existing Health Conditions?

    Perspective

    One health care issue about which the presidential candidates acknowledge they have differences is how the health care system should treat people with pre-existing health conditions. People who have a health condition (such as an illness or pregnancy) or who are at higher than average risk of needing health care are referred to as having a pre-existing health condition. The insurance reform provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), when they take effect in 2014, will…

  • How Small Business Owners Get Health Insurance

    Perspective

    As with any economic policy issue, there has been much discussion of how the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will affect small businesses. But, there’s been very little focus on how the health reform law will affect the owners of those businesses as people. As our recently released Employer Health Benefits Survey shows, small businesses are much less likely than larger businesses to offer health benefits to their workers. Half of businesses with 3-9 workers and…

  • How the ACA Changes Pathways to Insurance Coverage for People with HIV

    Perspective

    There are multiple sources of insurance coverage and care for people with HIV in the United States.  These include public programs, such as Medicaid and Medicare, and the Ryan White HIV/AIDS program, as well as private coverage through an employer or in the individual market. Medicaid, the nation's principal safety-net health insurance program for low-income Americans, is estimated to cover the largest share of people with HIV. Fewer are covered by Medicare, the federal health…

  • August Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: A Look At The GOP As The Republican Convention Draws Near

    Perspective

    Despite the ongoing focus on Republican opposition to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the latest Kaiser Health Tracking Poll finds that the ACA is not the top health care priority among Republicans. While jobs are still the number one issue, when asked about the health care issues that will impact their vote this fall, Republicans’ top concern was the cost of health care and insurance, named by two-thirds as either “extremely” or “very important” to…