Affordable Care Act

Larry Levitt’s March 2014 post on why there is no single judgment day for the Affordable Care Act is now available at The JAMA Forum.

Despite the news that 8 million people have signed up for health insurance through the ACA’s new marketplaces, the April Kaiser Health Tracking Poll finds no change in overall opinion of the law since last month . The most common reason for remaining uninsured is not being able to find an affordable plan. Also, a majority of the public supports the ACA’s requirement that private health insurance plans cover the full cost of birth control and believes that for-profit companies should be subject to this requirement even if their owners object to birth control on religious grounds.

Most Common Reason for Remaining Uninsured is Not Being Able to Find an Affordable Plan; Just 7 Percent Would Rather Pay a Fine than Pay for Coverage As the Supreme Court Considers Challenge, a Majority Supports the Law’s Requirements for Contraceptive Coverage, Including for Employers with Religious Objections Despite the…

Drew Altman, in The Wall Street Journal‘s Think Tank, writes that the next big concern for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will be how much premiums increase in exchanges for 2015. He discusses the factors to focus on to put this issue in perspective when states report premium increases.

This early look at the growth in the individual or nongroup market during the first three months of 2014 uses first quarter enrollment data submitted by insurance companies to state regulators to estimate the size of the market at the end of March. It includes both on and off exchange enrollment and is net of any people leaving the market (whether through plan cancellations or general churn in the market). It does not include the surge of enrollment that occurred toward the end of the open enrollment period as those enrollees most likely began their coverage in April or May.

A new Kaiser Family Foundation analysis of health insurer reports to state regulators provides a first glimpse of enrollment in the individual, or non-group, insurance market under the Affordable Care Act.  These initial filings reflect enrollment both through the new state insurance marketplaces created under the Affordable Care Act as…

The Kaiser Family Foundation held a reporters-only webinar at 11 a.m. ET on Thursday, June 19 to release its new Survey of Non-Group Health Insurance Enrollees, providing a first look at people buying their own health insurance following the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. The first in a series,…

Executive Summary January 1, 2014 marked the beginning of several provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) making significant changes to the non-group insurance market, including new rules for insurers regarding who they must cover and what they can charge, along with the opening of new Health Insurance Marketplaces (also…

Drew Altman, in The Wall Street Journal’s Think Tank, discusses what a new Foundation survey finds about one of the biggest questions about the Affordable Care Act: whether it covers the uninsured.

This survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation of Navigators and other Marketplace consumer assistance programs under the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) offers a nationwide analysis of the number and distribution of assisters and people they helped. The report examines the experience of programs in conducting outreach and enrollment assistance during the first open enrollment period. It also reviews the nature of help consumers needed applying for Medicaid or premium tax credits and understanding health insurance choices, and discusses key factors that impacted the effectiveness of Marketplace Assister Programs.