Program on the Health Care Marketplace

This data note looks at the coverage implications of policies to lower the age of Medicare eligibility as proposed by President Biden during the presidential campaign.

This analysis examines list prices for COVID-19 testing at the largest hospitals in every state and finds they range widely from $20 to $850. Federal law now requires private insurers to cover COVID-19 tests at no cost to the patient and provides funding for people without health insurance.

This survey of executive decision-makers at over 300 large private employers finds most see rising health costs as a threat to their businesses and believe a broader government role will be necessary to control health costs and ensure coverage.

This analysis for the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker illustrates the potential for employer savings if the age of Medicare eligibility were lowered to 60, as proposed by President Biden during the 2020 campaign.

This brief shows trends in hospital admissions during the coronavirus pandemic. Admissions to hospitals for reasons other than COVID-19 fell markedly again in November 2020 as cases of infections with the novel coronavirus began to surge anew, suggesting that more people were delaying care due to the worsening pandemic.

This summarizes key provisions of the No Surprises Act, enacted in December 2020 to address the problem of unexpected medical bills, and issues that could arise during implementation ahead of its Jan. 1, 2022 effective date.

This analysis summarizes recent interviews with marketplace navigators and other consumer assistance professionals, who offered observations about the 2021 Open Enrollment period, discussed general and pandemic-specific challenges facing consumers seeking coverage, and offered suggestions to improve enrollment outcomes. The brief also reviews information about federal marketplace resources and spending priorities contained in Trump Administration budget documents, and possible sources of funding for a COVID-19 special enrollment period during the Biden administration. 

In the issue brief, KFF experts highlight the laws and regulations that are in place to ensure access to free COVID-19 vaccines for individuals regardless of their insurance status and explain how vaccine administration costs will be covered in private insurance, Medicare and Medicaid, and for the uninsured.

This analysis provides new national and state-level estimates of the number of health care workers and long-term care residents who are expected to be part of the group first in line to receive the COVID-19 vaccine to gain insight into how this initial priority population varies across states.

This data note examines employer-sponsored coverage for same-sex spouses during the first half of 2020, as well as trends over time, and the impact that three Supreme Court cases could have on this coverage.