Affordable Care Act

Individual market insurers are expecting to return to consumers a record total of about $800 million in medical loss ratio rebates for 2018, a year in which the insurance companies posted their best annual financial performance under the Affordable Care Act to date. Financial results for 2018 suggest that insurers in the individual market are generally returning to or exceeding profitability levels seen before 2014, when ACA insurance market rules took effect, including the requirement to cover people with pre-existing conditions.

A new KFF poll of the public’s views on reproductive health issues finds most Americans, including majorities of women of reproductive age, are concerned that access to women’s reproductive health and preventive care services may be limited by the Trump administration’s changes to Title X, the nation’s federal family planning…

The latest KFF Poll examines the public’s attitudes towards different facets of reproductive health care in light of recent policy changes made by the Trump administration. This poll examines attitudes towards major changes to the Title X program and attitudes toward state-level laws restricting abortions after a fetal heartbeat has been detected. The poll also looks at public awareness of provisions related to women’s health that are part of the 2010 Affordable Care Act.

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.

The April 2019 KFF Health Tracking Poll examines the public’s position on the future of ACA and its protections for people with pre-existing medical conditions, in light of the ongoing legal battle which may end up in the Supreme Court. With lawmakers proposing legislation to address surprise medical bills, this month’s survey also measures the public’s support for federal government action to protect patients from having to pay the cost incurred from an inadvertent out-of-network provider.

Just 4 states are home to 70% of the uninsured adults who would become newly eligible for Medicaid if the 14 remaining states expanded under the Affordable Care Act. Learn more in this Chart of the Week.

This analysis looks at the share of working families’ income that is spent on premiums, deductibles and other cost-sharing for employer-sponsored care. It shows that lower-income families spend a greater share of their income on health costs than those with higher incomes.

In this Axios column, Drew Altman shows that employer coverage for lower wage workers is much worse than ACA marketplace coverage for similar populations. It’s a bigger problem we need to talk about more, he says.

The debate among Democratic presidential candidates about how to reform the health care system largely boils down to whether to build on the Affordable Care Act and create an option for people to enroll in Medicare or create a Medicare for all plan that covers everyone. On the other side…

The latest KFF Health Tracking Poll probes Democrats’ views about the general approaches to expanding health coverage and lowering costs put forward by the candidates. Most Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents (55%) say they prefer a candidate who would build on the Affordable Care Act to achieve those goals. Fewer (40%)…