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  • Transparency and Complexity

    Perspective

    This fall a new rule takes effect requiring all private health plans to offer a uniform, simple to read, summary of benefits and coverage (SBC).  The SBC will provide consumers with standardized information about how plans cover essential health benefits and what coverage limits and cost sharing applies. The SBC is one of the most popular provisions of the ACA.  Consumers often find health insurance difficult to understand and would no doubt welcome a plainly written…

  • July Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: A Focus On The Mandate and the Medicaid Expansion in the Aftermath of the Supreme Court Decision

    Perspective

    This second July poll reports in further depth on public opinion about the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in the wake of the Supreme Court decision. The Supreme Court’s decision that the individual mandate was constitutional as a tax appears to have had little impact on opinion about the already largely unpopular requirement that most people have health coverage or potentially face a penalty. Sixty-six percent of the public view the mandate negatively when it is…

  • Kaiser Poll: Early Reaction to Supreme Court Decision on ACA

    Perspective

    Following last week's Supreme Court's decision upholding the heart of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), a majority of Americans (56 percent) now say they would like to see the law's detractors stop their efforts to block its implementation and move on to other national problems. In the first of two polls to be released this month looking at opinion on the ACA in the wake of the Court's decision, Democrats overwhelmingly say opponents should move…

  • Is a Death Spiral Inevitable If There is No Mandate?

    Perspective

    If the Supreme Court acts within the next couple of weeks to overturn the individual mandate in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) while leaving the rest of the law intact, expect to hear a lot about how the individual insurance market will be destined for a "death spiral." When compared with implementing the ACA in full as planned, there's a consensus that eliminating the mandate would increase premiums and mean that far fewer of the…

  • Kaiser Survey Probes Health Insurance Brokers’ Views on Insurance Trends, ACA

    Perspective

    A new nationally representative survey of 500 health insurance agents and brokers working in the individual and small group markets by the Kaiser Family Foundation explores their outlook on market trends and views on the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The survey finds that many agents are seeing steep increases in premiums and deductibles for individuals and small businesses purchasing health insurance. When asked to estimate what they expect to be the typical premium increase in 2012…

  • KFF Health Security Watch Delaying Health Care to Avoid Cost Common

    Perspective

    While economic challenges facing the country continue and the Supreme Court is deciding the fate of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), May's Health Tracking Poll finds that the problems and concerns related to health care costs and access are wide-spread. A quarter report they have had problems paying medical bills in the past year and six in ten say they have cut corners to avoid health care costs. The survey also finds that health care can…

  • May Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: Four in Ten Say Children and Young Adults Will Be Better Off

    Perspective

    While supporters and opponents of the Affordable Care Act wait for the Supreme Court to announce their decision, support for the law dipped slightly in May, with unfavorable views now outnumbering favorable ones (44 percent versus 37 percent).  As in previous months, the public remains divided on whether the law will leave the country better off (34 percent) or worse off (35 percent). When it comes to their own families, a plurality (37 percent) doesn’t…