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Affordable Care Act

About the ACA

Promotional image for KFF video How Affordable is the Affordable Care Act

Did the Affordable Care Act Make Health Care More Affordable?

The expiration of the ACA’s enhanced premium tax credits at the start of 2026, combined with rising insurer premiums, put a spotlight on health care affordability that extends beyond Marketplace enrollees. KFF’s Cynthia Cox examines the ACA’s record and the broader underlying question it raises: what’s a fair price for Americans people to pay for health care?

The ACA MarketplaceS

In Preliminary Rate Filings, ACA Marketplace Insurers Largely Propose Double-Digit Premium Increase For 2027, Following a Steep Climb This Year 

ACA Marketplace insurers are proposing a median premium increase of 14% for 2027— indicating a likely second consecutive year of double-digit increases, according to a new analysis of preliminary rate filings in 16 states and DC. If these increases hold, typical premiums for insurers participating in the ACA Marketplaces would jump by more than one-third between 2025 and 2027.

The Average Marketplace Deductible Grew by About $1,000 Per Person in 2026, With More Enrollees Shifting to Higher-Deductible Plans as Enhanced Tax Credits Expired

The average Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplace deductible experienced the steepest increase in history—growing by 37% or over $1,000, from $2,759 in 2025 to $3,786 in 2026 as enhanced premium tax credits expired, according to a new KFF analysis. After the enhanced tax credits ended, many Marketplace shoppers shifted toward lower-premium, higher-deductible plans.

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  • What New Data Tell Us About Doctor Choice

    News Release

    Is choice of doctors eroding? Drew Altman explores the rhetoric versus reality and why the issue resonates with Americans, in his latest column for The Wall Street Journal's Think Tank. All previous columns by Drew Altman are online.

  • Public Split On What to Do About the Health Care System, Though More Support Building on ACA Than Repealing It, Replacing with a GOP Alternative, or Creating a Single Payer Plan

    News Release

    Following Flint Water Crisis, Nearly Half Worry about Their Community's Water Supply Almost Half of Public is Concerned about a Widespread Zika Outbreak in U.S. This Year The latest Kaiser Health Tracking Poll finds the public as divided as the remaining presidential candidates over their vision for the future of the nation's health care system. When asked to choose among four broad approaches for changing the health care system currently being discussed, the largest share…

  • Medicare-for-All vs. Single Payer: The Impact of Labels

    News Release

    In his latest column for The Wall Street Journal’s Think Tank, “Medicare-for-All vs. Single Payer: The Impact of Labels”, Drew Altman uses new polling on a Medicare-for-all or single payer health system to explain how what you call a health reform plan can substantially affect the public’s response. All previous Drew Altman columns are online.

  • Assessing ACA Marketplace Enrollment

    Issue Brief

    This analysis examines factors that may have kept 2016 enrollment in Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace plans from reaching early projections, and it estimates that sign-ups will continue to grow modestly in coming years.

  • New Analysis Suggests ACA Marketplace Enrollment Could Grow Modestly Over Next Few Years, up to 16.3 Million Sign-Ups, 14.7 Million Enrollees after Attrition

    News Release

    A new analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation finds that sign-ups in Affordable Care Act marketplace plans could continue to grow modestly over the next few years to 16.3 million (up 28%), based on the experience of the top-performing states. Assessing ACA Marketplace Enrollment examines factors that may have kept enrollment in 2016 from reaching early projections, including smaller declines than expected in employer coverage and a substantial number of people buying their own insurance…

  • Medicaid in a Time of Growth and Change: Findings from the Annual Kaiser 50-State Medicaid Budget Survey at a Forum with the National Association of Medicaid Directors

    Event Date:
    Event

    The Kaiser Family Foundation’s Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured (KCMU) released its 15th annual 50-state Medicaid budget survey for state fiscal years 2015 and 2016. Kaiser and the National Association of Medicaid Directors (NAMD) held a joint briefing to discuss key findings and highlight trends in enrollment and spending as well as policy changes in Medicaid programs around the country.

  • The Wisconsin Health Care Landscape

    Fact Sheet

    Wisconsin has long been a leader among states in expanding coverage to its low-income residents since even before the major coverage provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) took effect on January 1, 2014. While Governor Scott Walker decided not to adopt the Medicaid expansion, thousands of previously uninsured Wisconsinites have enrolled in health coverage through the state’s broad BadgerCare Medicaid waiver, which increases coverage to low-income populations, and through the new Health Insurance Marketplace.…

  • Nearly Half of the Uninsured, or 15.7 Million People, Are Eligible for Medicaid or Subsidized Affordable Care Act Coverage, Analysis Finds

    News Release

    State-Level Numbers Provide Estimates of How Many Could Be Reached During Third ACA Open Enrollment Period Weeks away from the Affordable Care Act’s third open enrollment period, a new Kaiser Family Foundation analysis finds nearly half (49% or 15.7 million) of the 32.3 million nonelderly people in the United States without health insurance at the beginning of 2015 are eligible for Medicaid or subsidized coverage through an ACA marketplace. On a state level, the share…

  • Understanding Health Insurance

    Video

    The YouToons help consumers understand health insurance by explaining health insurance premiums, out-of-pocket costs, and provider networks. These three videos are excerpts from the 2014 YouToons video, Health Insurance Explained – The YouToons Have It Covered.

  • Health Care and the 2016 Debates

    From Drew Altman

    In this column for The Wall Street Journal’s Think Tank, Drew Altman discusses the lack of attention to health in the primary debates and last week's Democratic forum in South Carolina.