More than a decade after its enactment, the future of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) remains uncertain as the U.S. Supreme Court takes up another challenge to the law’s constitutionality in California v. Texas (known as Texas v. U.S. in the lower courts). Oral argument is scheduled for Tuesday, November 10, 2020.
The ACA remains in effect while the litigation is pending. However, if all or most of the law ultimately is struck down, it will have complex and far-reaching consequences for the nation’s health care system, affecting nearly everyone in some way.
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
Explaining California v. Texas: A Guide to the Case Challenging the ACA
This issue brief answers key questions about California v. Texas (known as Texas v. US in the lower courts), the case challenging the Affordable Care Act to be heard by the Supreme Court.
Issue Brief See More
Related Affordable Care Act Resources
- 5 Charts About Public Opinion on the Affordable Care Act and the Supreme Court
- Affordability in the ACA Marketplace Under a Proposal Like Joe Biden’s Health Plan
- Eligibility for ACA Health Coverage Following Job Loss
- Protecting People With Pre-Existing Conditions Isn’t As Easy As It Seems
- Is COVID-19 a Pre-Existing Condition? What Could Happen if the ACA is Overturned
- Mental Illnesses May Soon Be the Most Common Pre-Existing Conditions
- Pre-Existing Condition Prevalence for Individuals and Families
- Eliminating the ACA: What Could It Mean for Medicaid Expansion?
- Loss of the Affordable Care Act Would Widen Racial Disparities in Health Coverage
- Loss of the ACA Could Greatly Erode Health Coverage and Benefits for Women
- The Effects of Medicaid Expansion under the ACA: Updated Findings from a Literature Review
- FAQs: Health Insurance Marketplace and the ACA
- Status of State Medicaid Expansion Decisions: Interactive Map
- Preventive Services Tracker
- Tracking Section 1332 State Innovation Waivers
Potential Impact of California v. Texas Decision on Key Provisions of the Affordable Care Act
The Supreme Court will review the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) this November in California v. Texas. This fact sheet summarizes the major provisions of the ACA, illustrating the breadth of its changes to the health care system. If all of most of the ACA is struck down, many of these provisions could be eliminated.
Issue Brief See More
Refine Results
- view as grid
- view as list
An Overview of Actions Taken by State Lawmakers Regarding the Medicaid Expansion
The ACA Medicaid expansion has garnered different responses from statelawmakers – Democratics and Republicans as well as governors and legislatures. While it does not cover how every state has enacted the ACA Medicaid expansion, this fact sheet highlights some of the different actions state lawmakers have taken in response to the ACA Medicaid expansion.
Fact Sheet Read More The Effects of the Medicaid Expansion on State Budgets: An Early Look in Select States
This brief examines the early state budget effects of the ACA Medicaid expansion in three states: Connecticut, New Mexico, and Washington State. States were asked about savings and costs in Medicaid, behavioral health, corrections, uncompensated care spending, etc. as well as revenues. Findings from a study looking at Kentucky are also included.
Issue Brief Read More After Five Years, Public Opinion on Health Law Remains Divided
On the Affordable Care Act’s fifth anniversary, Drew Altman’s column for The Wall Street Journal’s Think Tank discusses two views of public opinion on the law.
Perspective Read More Sen. Mark Pryor Spotlights the Health Law’s Rx for Pre-Existing Illnesses
In a column for The Wall Street Journal’s Think Tank, Drew Altman explains why Senator Mark Pryor’s new campaign ad features the Affordable Care Act’s protections for people with pre-existing medical conditions, the somewhat forgotten “mega provision” of the law.
Perspective Read More Evolving Picture of Nine Safety-Net Hospitals: Implications of the ACA and Other Strategies
Safety-net hospitals are an integral part of the U.S. health care landscape, providing care to some of the nation’s most medically vulnerable populations, including Medicaid enrollees and the uninsured. With the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the U.S. health care system is rapidly changing, and safety-net hospitals need to make major adjustments to survive in the post-reform environment. This brief draws on interviews with executives at nine safety-net hospital systems and examines how their hospitals have fared since major coverage provisions of the ACA came into effect in January 2014. The brief also examines new and ongoing strategies that the hospitals are adopting in the face of a quickly changing health care environment. While acknowledging the importance of the ACA, executives at each system in the study noted that other non-ACA related factors have also shaped how their hospitals fared over the last year. The hospitals in the study were: Cook County Health and Hospital System (CCHHS); Denver Health (Denver Health); Harris Health System (Harris Health); New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC); Parkland Health and Hospital System (Parkland); Santa Clara Valley Health and Hospital System (SCVHHS); San Francisco General Hospital (SFGH); University Medical Center of Southern Nevada (UMC), and Virginia Commonwealth University Health System (VCU). These hospitals participated in two earlier related studies that examined how the systems were preparing for health care reform.
Issue Brief Read More Americans’ Health Priorities Diverge From Washington’s Focus on Obamacare
In this column for The Wall Street Journal’s Think Tank, Drew Altman finds the public’s healthcare priorities have more to do with drug costs and other real world issues people deal with using the health care system than the ongoing partisan wrangling over the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
Perspective Read More Survey of Non-Group Health Insurance Enrollees, Wave 2
The survey is the second in a series exploring the experiences and perceptions of people who purchase their own health insurance, the group perhaps most affected by the Affordable Care Act’s reforms to the individual insurance market and tax subsidies to make such coverage more affordable. It includes people in ACA-compliant plans sold both inside and outside the federal and state marketplaces, as well as those still in non-compliant plans, which took effect prior to January 2014 and in many cases do not comply with all the law’s requirements.
Poll Finding Read More Experiences And Attitudes Of Primary Care Providers Under The First Year Of ACA Coverage Expansion
A new survey from The Kaiser Family Foundation and The Commonwealth Fund asked primary care providers—physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants—about their views of and experiences with the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and other changes in health care delivery and payment, as well as their thoughts on the future of primary care.
Poll Finding Read More Analysis of 2016 Premium Changes and Insurer Participation in the Affordable Care Act’s Health Insurance Marketplaces
This analysis provides an early look at premium changes for individuals in the health insurance marketplaces, created under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), in major cities in 10 states plus DC. Premium changes for the benchmark silver plans vary significantly across the sample cities. The benchmark rates will increase 4.4 percent on average in 2016 without accounting for tax credits, a relatively modest amount but greater than the average increase for 2015.
Issue Brief Read More Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: Late June 2015 – A Special Focus On The Supreme Court Decision
The latest Kaiser Health Tracking Poll finds that when told that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to keep the Affordable Care Act (ACA) as it is, allowing subsidies to be provided to low- and moderate-income people in all states regardless of who runs their Marketplace, about 6 in 10 say they approve of the decision while about a third disapprove. The King v. Burwell ruling does not appear to have had an immediate effect on the public’s overall views of the health law. Still, most Americans do not think the ACA has cleared its last big hurdle with the June 25 Supreme Court ruling; just 18 percent think the King v. Burwell case was the last major battle over the ACA, while nearly 8 in 10 think there will be more to come.
Poll Finding Read More