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Affordable Care Act

The ACA MarketplaceS

How Has Marketplace Enrollment Changed Across States in 2026?

Following several years of rapid enrollment growth in the ACA Marketplaces that corresponded with temporary enhanced premium tax credits, enrollment fell for the first time in seven years in 2026, when those tax credits expired. Every state except for New Mexico saw a drop in Marketplace enrollment from 2025 to 2026. State-based Marketplaces that run their own enrollment platforms, including those that partially offset the enhanced tax credits, generally saw lower drops in enrollment.

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?

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  • Web Briefing: Early Impacts of the Medicaid Expansion for the Homeless Population

    Event Date:
    Event

    The Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion provides a significant opportunity to increase health coverage and improve access to care for individuals experiencing homelessness, who historically have had high uninsured rates and often have multiple, complex physical and mental health needs. On Monday, December 15, 2014, the Kaiser Family Foundation hosted a web briefing to examine the early impacts of the ACA’s Medicaid expansion on the homeless population, as well as opportunities and challenges looking forward.  The…

  • New Spanish-Language Cartoon and Calculator to Help Consumers Understand Health Insurance

    News Release

    The Kaiser Family Foundation today released two new Spanish-language tools to help consumers better understand health insurance as they shop for plans during open enrollment for the Affordable Care Act’s marketplaces and in other venues. El seguro de salud, explicado: ¡los YouToons lo tienen cubierto!, is a Spanish version of the five-minute cartoon video Health Insurance Explained – The YouToons Have It Covered, a light-hearted treatment of a difficult and important topic. It breaks down…

  • El seguro de salud, explicado: ¡los YouToons lo tienen cubierto!

    Video

    El seguro de salud, explicado: ¡los YouToons lo tienen cubierto! desglosa conceptos de seguros como primas, deducibles y redes de proveedores.  Explica cómo las personas pagan por su cobertura y cómo obtener cuidado médico y medicamentos recetados con distintos tipos de seguros de salud, incluyendo HMOs y PPOs.

  • Assessing the Performance of the U.S. Health System

    Issue Brief

    Health spending growth has consistently outpaced U.S. economic growth and is higher than medical spending in other wealthy countries. Despite spending more, the United States doesn't have better health outcome in terms of life expectancy, mortality rates and other measures. This brief provides an overview of trends in health costs and the performance of the U.S. health system, including comparisons to countries from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The brief charts growth…

  • Key Findings on Medicaid Managed Care: Highlights from the Medicaid Managed Care Market Tracker

    Report

    This report highlights 10 key findings on the Medicaid managed care market, based on analysis of data included in the Kaiser Family Foundation's Medicaid Managed Care Market Tracker. The findings provide a partial profile of the Medicaid MCO market nationally and by state. They also illuminate the involvement of large, multi-state health insurance companies in the Medicaid market and the participation of these firms in other markets as well, including the managed long-term services and…

  • YouToons: Health Insurance Explained

    Health Insurance Explained: The YouToons Have it Covered

    Video

    In this five-minute animated video, the YouToons help consumers understand their health insurance through fun, easy-to-understand explanations and scenarios. This cartoon serves as a tutorial for consumers and organizations. The YouToons previously appeared in the 2010 animated movie, "Health Reform Hits Main Street" and the 2013, "The YouToons Get Ready for Obamacare: Health Insurance Changes Coming Your Way Under the Affordable Care Act."

  • JAMA Forum: Why Health Insurance Literacy Matters

    Perspective

    Larry Levitt's November 2014 post looks at the challenges with people not understanding basic health insurance concepts as millions of them evaluate and choose health plans during open enrollment season for insurance in 2015.

  • Estimating Federal Payments and Eligibility for Basic Health Programs: An Illustrative Example

    Report

    In some states, policymakers and stakeholders are considering adoption of the Basic Health Program (BHP) option permitted under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). Federal regulations allow BHP implementation beginning in 2015. Through BHP, consumers with incomes at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL) who would otherwise qualify for subsidized qualified health plans (QHPs) offered in health insurance marketplaces instead are offered state-contracting standard health plans that provide coverage…

  • The ACA’s Basic Health Program Option: Federal Requirements and State Trade-Offs

    Report

    The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) gives states the option to implement a Basic Health Program (BHP) that covers low-income residents through state-contracting plans outside the health insurance marketplace, rather than qualified health plans (QHPs). In March 2014, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued final regulations on the requirements for a BHP and the methodology for calculating federal payments to states. States can choose to implement BHP beginning in 2015.…