How Private Health Coverage Works: A Primer – 2008 Update April 1, 2008 Issue Brief How Private Health Coverage Works: A Primer— 2008 UpdateThis primer explains the role and operations of private health coverage in the United States. Private health coverage is provided under a variety of different arrangements, including health insuring organizations regulated under state law and health plans sponsored by employers and employee organizations…
Primers on Key Health Care Topics and Programs December 1, 2008 Issue Brief The Kaiser Family Foundation maintains a number of primers providing overviews of key health care programs and issues. Written by Foundation staff, each primer provides key data and information that helps illustrate the topic and its relevance for the nation’s health care system. Medicaid: A Primer Medicare: A Primer The…
Insurer Rebates under the Medical Loss Ratio: 2012 Estimates April 1, 2012 Report Beginning in 2011, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires insurance plans to pay out a minimum percentage of premium dollars towards health care expenses and quality improvement activities, limiting the amount spent on administrative and marketing costs and profit. Under the law, large group plans are required to spend at…
Quick Take: Timing Matters: States Waiting for a Supreme Court Decision to Plan an Exchange May 23, 2012 Fact Sheet State-based health insurance exchanges are an important component of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) designed to extend subsidized private health insurance coverage to millions of Americans by 2014. Though projections show exchange enrollment could grow to 20 million individuals nationally, aggressive planning on the part of states…
Peering Into the Black Box of Insurance Rating June 7, 2011 Perspective Recently, the New York Times reported that private health insurers continue to seek large premium increases despite seeing lower than expected use of medical care and booking record profits. The story highlights a significant problem for health policy: the lack of good, public information about how health insurers manage health…
Early Analysis In Eleven States Finds Modest Increases For ACA Silver Plans June 24, 2015 News Release A Kaiser Family Foundation analysis of Affordable Care Act (ACA) plans in major metropolitan areas in 11 states where data are available, including the District of Columbia, finds that preliminary 2016 premiums for benchmark silver plans grew modestly, but increased more sharply this year than last year. The average increase for benchmark plans across the cities is 4.4 percent for 2016 compared with a 2 percent increase nationwide in 2015.
Health-Care Deductibles Climbing Out of Reach March 11, 2015 Perspective In this column for The Wall Street Journal’s Think Tank, Drew Altman explores the trend of higher deductibles in health plans and discusses a new analysis showing that many people with private insurance don’t have sufficient financial resources to pay a mid- or high-range deductible.
Web Briefing for Journalists: Marketplace Open Enrollment in the Trump Era October 18, 2017 Event With the Trump administration’s announcements last week, the landscape around Affordable Care Act marketplaces and the open enrollment period beginning Nov. 1 continues to shift. Though the 2010 health law remains intact for now, consumers will see fundamental differences this year when it comes to signing up for 2018 marketplace…
Get Ready for a Lot of Biden Executive Orders on Health Care January 7, 2021 Perspective In this column for the JAMA Health Forum, Larry Levitt explores what President-elect Biden might do to advance his health care vision both through legislation and through executive orders and waivers and demonstrations.
Another Year of Record ACA Marketplace Signups, Driven in Part by Medicaid Unwinding and Enhanced Subsidies January 24, 2024 Blog Open enrollment for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplaces is about to wrap up with another record high number of people signing up for coverage. Factors that contribute to this increase include unwinding of the Medicaid continuous enrollment, increased subsidies from the American Rescue Plan and Inflation Reduction Act, and increased marketing, outreach, and enrollment assistance.