Health Reform
KeY Issues
Limiting Private Insurance Reimbursement to Medicare Rates Would Reduce Health Spending by About $350 Billion in 2021
Total health care spending for people with private health insurance would be an estimated $352 billion lower in 2021 if private insurers used Medicare rates to pay hospitals and other health care providers, rather than the substantially higher rates they currently pay, our analysis finds.
That would represent a 41 percent decrease from the $859 billion in projected health care spending for people with private insurance this year. The resulting savings would be spread among employers ($194 billion) and employees ($116 billion), and the non-group market ($42 billion), assuming proportional savings throughout the private insurance market.
That would represent a 41 percent decrease from the $859 billion in projected health care spending for people with private insurance this year. The resulting savings would be spread among employers ($194 billion) and employees ($116 billion), and the non-group market ($42 billion), assuming proportional savings throughout the private insurance market.
- Explainer
If ACA is Struck Down, Nearly All Americans Would Be Affected
In 2018, a judge ruled the ACA individual mandate is unconstitutional and that the entire law should be struck down. Here’s the potential impact if the entire law was held to be invalid. - courts
Explaining Texas v. U.S.: A Guide to the Case Challenging the ACA
This issue brief answers key questions about Texas v. United States. The litigation challenges the Affordable Care Act’s minimum essential coverage provision (known as the individual mandate) and raises questions about whether the law can survive. - coverage
Marketplace Eligibility Among the Uninsured: Implications for a Broadened Enrollment Period and ACA Outreach
Four million uninsured people could get an ACA bronze plan with no premium payment and 4.9 million others could get subsidies to offset the cost of such a plan under an ACA marketplace special enrollment period. - Section 1557
Demographics, Insurance Coverage, and Access to Care among Transgender Adults
Removing the ACA’s Section 1557 anti-discrimination protections for gender identity, as contested Trump administration regulations seek to do, may further raise barriers to care among the estimated 1.4 million transgender adults living in the U.S.
- Private Insurance
Individual Insurance Market Performance in Early 2020
Individual market insurers, on average, remained profitable through the first three months of 2020 as claims costs rose only slightly compared to the same period last year.
- FAQs
Health Insurance Marketplace and the ACA
Find answers to over 300 frequently asked questions about buying coverage on the health insurance marketplaces. Over 180 of our FAQs are now available in Spanish. - interactive
Estimate 2021 Consumer Premiums for ACA Marketplace
With this calculator, you can enter your income, age, and family size to estimate your eligibility for subsidies and how much you could spend on health insurance. - Health Reform
Explaining Health Care Reform: Questions About Health Insurance Subsidies
This brief provides an overview of the financial assistance provided under the ACA for people purchasing coverage on their own through health insurance Marketplaces (also called Exchanges).
Health Reform Polling
Latest Polling70%
say it’s “very important” that the ACA provision barring insurers from denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions remain in effect. (April 2019)
51%
say they support a Medicare-for-all plan that would cover all Americans. (July 2019)
55%
of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents say they prefer building on the ACA to replacing it with a national Medicare-for-all plan. (July 2019)
65%
favor having a government-administered health plan that would compete with private health insurance plans and be available to all Americans. (July 2019)
