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This brief discusses the key factors that will influence the rate changes that insurers are requesting in 2017 Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplaces, including current premiums, forecasted enrollment changes, increases in price and use of services, changes in policy design or network, changes in law or regulation, and competition.
Premiums will rise substantially in 2018 Affordable Care Act marketplace plans for states using HealthCare.gov, but in many cases, people receiving premium tax credits will pay less than they did in 2017, a new Kaiser Family Foundation analysis finds. The new analysis includes county-level interactive maps charting premium changes of lowest-cost gold, silver, and bronze plans for consumers with and without premium tax credits in the 2018 HealthCare.gov marketplaces. For people not eligible for tax…
This Visualizing Health Policy infographic charts recent trends in employer-sponsored health insurance premiums. Between 1999 and 2015, premiums increased by 203 percent, outpacing both inflation and workers’ earnings. However, growth of premiums for family coverage slowed toward the end of that time period, from an average of 11 percent a year between 1999 and 2005, to 5 percent between 2005 and 2015. In recent years, deductibles rose faster than both premiums and wages, with the…
A new analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that 1.5 million people with pre-existing conditions could face higher premiums under an amendment suggested by Sen. Ted Cruz to the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA), the Senate’s proposed replacement for the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The amendment, which is being discussed but has not been introduced, reportedly would allow insurers in the non-group market to sell some policies that don’t follow all ACA market rules…
In this column for Axios, Drew Altman presents new data analysis showing how many people are impacted by premium increases in the non-group market, and discusses the implications.
The House of Representatives recently passed a budget reconciliation bill that would appropriate funding for cost-sharing reductions that insurers are required to provide to low-income enrollees in the Affordable Care Act marketplace. This policy watch explains what these cost-sharing reductions are, how they relate to federal spending, and what effect appropriating funding might have on premiums and the uninsured rate.
In 1999, The Kaiser Family Foundation, the Health Research and Educational Trust, and UC Berkeley undertook a supplement to the National Employer Health Benefits Survey based on California firms. Since that time, the survey has been conducted annually by Kaiser and HRET. Like the National survey, the California Employer Health Benefits Survey tracks trends in employer health insurance coverage, the cost of that coverage, and other topical health insurance issues. Findings are based on a…
No doubt it will take some time to sort out how elements of the debt deal (formally "The Budget Control Act of 2011") will all work. Delving into the details of how it affects subsidies in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to make insurance more affordable helps to illustrate how complex this business can be. Let's start with a short primer on the ACA subsidies. Starting in 2014 people buying insurance on their own in…
Annual premiums for employer-sponsored family health coverage reached $20,576 this year, up 5% from last year, with workers on average paying $6,015 toward the cost of their coverage. The average deductible among covered workers in a plan with a general annual deductible is $1,655 for single coverage. Fifty-six percent of small firms and 99% of large firms offer health benefits to at least some of their workers, with an overall offer rate of 57%.
This analysis presents the most current data on out-of-pocket health care spending by Medicare beneficiaries, both overall and among different groups of beneficiaries. The analysis explores how much Medicare beneficiaries spend out of pocket in total on health care premiums and health-related services, on average; how much beneficiaries spend out of pocket on different types of health-related services; and what share of income beneficiaries spend on out-of-pocket health care costs.
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