The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.
KFF’s policy research provides facts and analysis on a wide range of policy issues and public programs.
KFF designs, conducts and analyzes original public opinion and survey research on Americans’ attitudes, knowledge, and experiences with the health care system to help amplify the public’s voice in major national debates.
KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the organization’s core operating programs.
In his latest 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 insurance don’t have sufficient financial resources to pay a mid- or high-range deductible. All previous columns by Drew Altman are available online.
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.
Higher cost sharing in private insurance has been credited with helping to slow the growth of health care costs in recent years. For families with low incomes or moderate incomes, however, high deductibles, out-of-pocket limits and other cost sharing can be a potential barrier to care and may lead these families to significant financial difficulties. This issue brief uses information from the Federal Reserve Board's 2013 Survey of Consumer Finances to look at how household resources match up against potential cost-sharing requirements for plans offered by employers or available in the individual market, including in the Affordable Care Act marketplaces.
This brief examines the coverage provisions of the Affordable Care Act , providing an update on how they have been implemented and assessing their impact five years after the law's enactment. It also discusses key issues for coverage going forward.
This brief and accompanying slides examine cost sharing - deductibles, copayments and coinsurance - in 2015 insurance plans sold on the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) federally-facilitated marketplaces. The analysis looks at out-of-pocket limits, as well as cost sharing for hospital stays, physician visits, emergency room visits, and prescription drugs, for plans across the metal levels (platinum, gold, silver and bronze).
cost sharing for plans offered in federally facilitated or partnership marketplaces for 2015 – 2015-0211 Download…
Premium Changes in the ACA’s Health Insurance Marketplaces, 2014-2015 Download View JAMA Infographic…
This Visualizing Health Policy infographic illustrates the change in monthly premiums by county, and select cities, from 2014 to 2015 for a 40-year-old person covered by the second-lowest-cost silver “benchmark” plan in the Affordable Care Act’s insurance marketplaces. Premium changes were greatest in Summit County, Colo. (45% decrease) and southeastern Alaska (34% increase), before tax credits.
This Visualizing Health Policy infographic with the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) illustrates the change in monthly premiums by county, and select cities, from 2014 to 2015 for a 40-year-old person covered by the second-lowest-cost silver "benchmark" plan in the Affordable Care Act's 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 across 15 states plus DC. Although premium changes vary across and within states, premium changes for 2015 in general are modest when looking at low-cost plans. On average, individuals will pay slightly less in premiums for the benchmark silver plan in 2015 than in 2014.
© 2025 KFF