Filling the need for trusted information on national health issues
More than a decade after its enactment, tens of millions of people nationwide rely on coverage options created through the Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA). The law has survived multiple court challeges at the U.S. Supreme Court and repeated attempts by Republicans in Congress to repeal it. Subsequent legislation has scaled back some aspects of the law and expanded others, including by the COVID-19 relief bill, the American Response Plan Act of 2021. This page highlights relevant analysis about the ACA and proposed and enacted changes to it..
For information about ACA Marketplace Open Enrollment, including fact sheets and 300+ FAQs, visit our collection of resources on Understanding Health Insurance.
A summary of 10 of the major health coverage and financing provisions of the current Build Back Better Act, with discussion of the potential implications for people and the federal budget.
In this Policy Watch we explore the potential impact of the expiration of the American Rescue Plan Act’s enhanced financial help and new eligibility for the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance Marketplace federal subsidies. While the COVID-19 relief legislation passed earlier this year provides greater subsidy assistance through 2022, Democrats in Congress are currently considering making the temporary federal help permanent or extending it as part of their planned budget reconciliation legislation.
This page displays an interactive map of the current status of state decisions on the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion. Additional Medicaid expansion resources are listed (with links) below the map.
In this column for the JAMA Forum, KFF’s Larry Levitt explores the Medicare drug-price negotiation provisions and other significant drug-price changes in the Inflation Reduction Act and their potential to lead to further efforts to address health care costs.
As the 2022 mid-term elections approach, inflation and gas prices are on the top of voters’ minds. While health care prices have often risen faster than the rest of the economy, the prices for medical services are generally set in advance – often tied to the…
Larry Levitt writes about the political and practical impact of the health care provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act in The New York Times guest essay, “The Biggest Health Care Reform in a Decade Could Lower Your Costs.”
As part of the Inflation Reduction Act, the Senate recently passed a three-year extension (through 2025) of enhanced subsidies for people buying their own health coverage on the Affordable Care Act Marketplaces. The enhanced subsidies increase the amount of financial help available to those already eligible and also newly expand subsidies to middle-income people, many of whom were previously priced out of coverage. Here’s what to know about the likely renewal of these subsidies:
The Inflation Reduction Act includes several landmark health care provisions that would lower prescription drug costs for people with Medicare, reduce Medicare drug spending and extend enhanced subsidies for Affordable Care Act marketplace coverage. On Thursday, August 11, a panel of KFF experts held a web briefing to explain these…
This analysis finds that the ACA’s maximum out-of-pocket limit is likely to grow faster than wages and salaries, and is also expected to grow faster than the maximum out-of-pocket limit for Health Savings Account (HSA)-qualified health plans.
This analysis of marketplace insurers’ early rate filings in 13 states and the District of Columbia finds that they are seeking higher premium increases than in recent years, largely due to rising prices paid to hospitals, doctors and drug companies and increased use of services by enrollees.
Healthcare.gov marketplace insurers denied nearly one out of every five claims (18%) submitted for in-network services in 2020, though why the denial rates are so high and the ultimate consequences for consumers are difficult to access from the publicly available data, a new KFF analysis finds. The Affordable Care Act…
This analysis of transparency data released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) finds that 18% of in-network claims were denied by healthcare.gov marketplace insurers in 2020, with denial rates varying widely from less than 1% to more than 80%. Consumers appealed just over one-tenth of 1% of those denied claims.
