President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress pursued several major efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) but were unable to get a bill through the U.S. Senate in 2017. In 2018, Congress did pass a tax bill that eliminated the ACA’s tax penalty for not obtaining health coverage beginning in 2019.
In December 2019, a federal appeals court panel ruled that the law’s individual mandate is unconstitutional since Congress has set the mandate tax penalty to zero and sent the case back to a lower court to determine how much of the rest of the ACA should be invalidated. The case was first brought by a number of Republican state attorneys general, and the Trump administration now argues that nearly all of the ACA should be overturned. The U.S. Supreme Court has now agreed to review the case.
For information about ACA Marketplace Open Enrollment, including fact sheets and 300+ FAQs, visit our collection of resources on Understanding Health Insurance.
Featured Affordable Care Act Resources
Potential Impact of Texas v. U.S. Decision on Key Provisions of the Affordable Care Act
On December 14, 2018, a federal trial court judge ruled that the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) individual mandate is unconstitutional and that the entire law should be struck down as a result. This brief considers the complex and far-reaching impact were the entire law ultimately held to be invalid.
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Related Affordable Care Act Resources
- Explaining Texas v. U.S.: A Guide to the Case Challenging the ACA
- Coronavirus Response and the Affordable Care Act
- Republican Voters Have Moved On from Hating the ACA
- FAQs: Health Insurance Marketplace and the ACA
- Status of State Medicaid Expansion Decisions: Interactive Map
- How ACA Marketplace Premiums Are Changing by County in 2020
- Insurer Participation on ACA Marketplaces, 2014-2020
- The Past, Present, And Possible Future Of Public Opinion On The Affordable Care Act
- Pre-Existing Condition Prevalence for Individuals and Families
- Preventive Services Tracker
KFF Health Tracking Poll – February 2020: Health Care in the 2020 Election
This month’s KFF Health Tracking poll explores the role of health care in the 2020 election, and public opinion on the Affordable Care Act.
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HIV, Intimate Partner Violence (IPV), and Women: An Emerging Policy Landscape
Intimate partner violence has been shown to be associated with increased risk for HIV among women, as well as poorer treatment outcomes for those already diagnosed. This brief reviews the link between IPV and HIV, key policy changes and initiatives that attempt to address these challenges.
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Two Medicaid-Related Initiatives That Help Promote Long-Term Care at Home and in the Community, Rather Than in Institutions, Are Set To Expire at the End of December
Two initiatives that for years have helped shift Medicaid enrollees away from nursing homes in favor of long-term care at home and in the community face year-end deadlines that could undercut that trend, according to two new KFF issue briefs. While there does not appear to be substantive disagreement over…
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Implications of the Expiration of Medicaid Long-Term Care Spousal Impoverishment Rules for Community Integration
To financially qualify for Medicaid long-term services and supports (LTSS), an individual must have a low income and limited assets. In response to concerns that these rules could leave a spouse without adequate means of support when a married individual needs LTSS, Congress created the spousal impoverishment rules in 1988. Originally, these rules required states to protect a portion of a married couple’s income and assets to provide for the “community spouse’s” living expenses when determining nursing home financial eligibility, but gave states the option to apply the rules to home and community-based services (HCBS) waivers.
Section 2404 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) changed the spousal impoverishment rules to treat Medicaid HCBS and institutional care equally from January 2014 through December 2018. Congress subsequently extended Section 2404 through December 2019. This issue brief answers key questions about the spousal impoverishment rules, presents 50-state data from a 2018 Kaiser Family Foundation survey about state policies and future plans in this area, and considers the implications if Congress does not further extend Section 2404.
Insurer Participation on ACA Marketplaces, 2014-2020
Since the Affordable Care Act (ACA) health insurance marketplaces opened in 2014, there have been a number of changes in insurance participation as companies entered and exited states and also changed their footprint within states. This brief and interactive maps show how insurance participation has changed over time in every county in the U.S.
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Poll: On Health Care, Democrats and Democratic-Leaning Independents Trust Sen. Sanders the Most, but Significantly More People Support a Public Option than Medicare-for-All
3 in 4 Americans Do Not Expect Congress to Take Action to Lower Drug Costs Before the 2020 Election Ahead of tonight’s Democratic presidential debate, Sen. Bernie Sanders is the candidate most trusted on health care by Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, though the Medicare-for-all plan he has championed is significantly…
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KFF Health Tracking Poll – November 2019: Health Care In The 2020 Election, Medicare-for-all, And The State Of The ACA
This poll examines the issues Democrats most want to hear in the debates, their trust of the Democratic candidates on health care, attitudes towards Medicare-for-all and a public option, perceptions of the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance marketplaces, and prospects of legislation to address prescription drug costs.
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From Ballot Initiative to Waivers: What is the Status of Medicaid Expansion in Utah?
The Utah legislature significantly changed and limited the Medicaid coverage expansion that was adopted by the voters through a ballot initiative in November 2018. This issue brief explains new provisions in Utah’s recently amended Section 1115 Medicaid waiver and the additional amendments that the state has submitted to CMS, including most recently a request for enhanced ACA federal matching funds for an expansion to 138% FPL with an enrollment cap.
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Data Note: Limited Navigator Funding for Federal Marketplace States
This brief reviews the data from CMS about its 2019 funding awards to Navigator programs serving consumers in the federal marketplace states during the 2020 open enrollment season, as well as funding trends over time. It breaks out the funding by state and identifies counties with no federally funded Navigators available to help consumers.
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Affordable Care Act Premiums Are Falling in Many Areas of the U.S. in 2020, But Changes Vary Widely By County and Type of Plan, County-Level Analysis Shows
Although premiums for Affordable Care Act Marketplace benchmark silver plans are decreasing on average across the U.S. in 2020, changes vary widely by geographic location and plan type, including premium increases in a number of counties and plans, according to a new KFF analysis of county-level data. The analysis of…
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How ACA Marketplace Premiums Are Changing by County in 2020
Premiums for ACA Marketplace benchmark silver plans are decreasing on average across the U.S. in 2020. However, premium changes vary widely by location and by metal level, including premium increases in a number of counties and plans.
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