Who Will be the H&R Block and TurboTax for Health Insurance? June 3, 2011 Perspective There’s been quite a bit of focus lately insofar as these issues go, anyway on health insurance agents and brokers (sometimes known in the industry as “producers”). They are pushing legislation that has been introduced in Congress and is now being studied by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners that…
KFF March Health Tracking Poll: One Year Later, Views on Health Reform Remain Divided March 18, 2011 Perspective Health reform is a year old and the latest Kaiser Health Tracking Poll finds a basic division that has changed little during the last 12 months. This month, 42 percent of Americans hold favorable views of the law while 46 percent view it unfavorably. In April 2010, the month after…
August Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: The Uninsured and the Health Reform Law August 29, 2011 Perspective The August Kaiser Health Tracking Poll finds that even though 32 million uninsured Americans will gain health insurance under the ACA, only about half of non-elderly Americans currently without coverage say they are familiar with the chief components in the law designed to achieve this goal. Fifty-two percent of the uninsured…
The Budget Trigger and Health Reform August 4, 2011 Perspective No doubt it will take some time to sort out how elements of the debt deal (formally “The Budget Control Act of 2011”) will all work. Delving into the details of how it affects subsidies in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to make insurance more affordable helps to illustrate how…
Pop Quiz: Assessing Americans’ Familiarity with the Health Care Law February 2, 2011 Perspective Based on the December Kaiser Health Tracking Poll, the latest KFF data note explores Americans’ awareness of what the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will do. As the 112th Congress prepared to take office and the discussion of repeal was on the rise, we ‘quizzed’ Americans on whether they thought a…
The Budget: What Would You Cut? February 16, 2011 Perspective As President Obama and Congress begin to hash out the 2012 budget, it is a good time to revisit results from our January 2011 survey showing that in spite of the fact that most Americans report being very concerned about the budget deficit, there is little public support for major…
KFF February Health Tracking Poll: Nearly Half Confused About Status of the Health Reform Law February 24, 2011 Perspective In the latest Kaiser Health Tracking Poll, nearly half of Americans say they are confused about the status of the health reform law. While 52 percent of the public is aware that health reform is still law, 22 percent think the law has been repealed and is no longer law…
Insurance Brokers and the Medical Loss Ratio December 8, 2011 Perspective In a close vote, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) recently adopted a resolution urging Congress and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to exempt insurance broker and agent compensation from medical loss ratio (MLR) requirements or otherwise adjust the requirements to ease their effect. HHS last…
KFF/Harvard Survey on Public’s Health Care Agenda for the 112th Congress Finds An Uptick in Public Opposition to Health Reform As GOP Ramped Up Repeal Campaign January 25, 2011 Perspective Though the public remains divided on health reform overall, according to a new survey jointly conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard School of Public Health, opposition to the new law ticked upward in January from 41 percent to 50 percent as Republicans ramped up efforts to repeal it.…
The Public, Health Care Reform, and Views on Repeal January 4, 2011 Perspective With the U.S. House of Representatives scheduled to vote on repeal of the health reform law next week, the latest Kaiser Family Foundation data note revisits some recent public opinion findings on the topic. Kaiser’s December Health Tracking Poll found the public divided on the question of repeal: one in…
