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Tracking the Public’s Views on the ACA

While overall opinion of the Affordable Care Act has been more favorable than unfavorable since 2017, there remain deep partisan divides. See how public opinion on the ACA has changed from the inception of the law to the present. This interactive tool highlights key moments when views shifted and trends based on party identification, income, age, gender, and race/ethnicity.

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  • What is a Mini-Med Plan?

    Perspective

    One of the early insurance market changes in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) phases out caps that some insurance plans impose on the annual dollar amount of benefits they will cover. Plans issued or renewed after September 23, 2010 cannot have annual limits of less than $750,000, and the threshold goes up to $1.25 million in 2011. Annual dollar limits of any kind are prohibited starting in 2014. The federal government has issued waivers from…

  • Confusion Declines, but Remains Widespread in KFF May Tracking Poll

    Perspective

    Confusion over the new health reform law declined but remains widespread, with 44 percent of the public saying they were confused in May, compared to 55 percent in April. Moreover, more than a third of Americans (35%) say they do not understand what the impact of the law will be on themselves and their families, while 61 percent report feeling they do understand what that impact will be. Americans continue to report getting information about…

  • What Do They Mean When They Talk About Pre-Existing Health Conditions?

    Perspective

    One health care issue about which the presidential candidates acknowledge they have differences is how the health care system should treat people with pre-existing health conditions. People who have a health condition (such as an illness or pregnancy) or who are at higher than average risk of needing health care are referred to as having a pre-existing health condition. The insurance reform provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), when they take effect in 2014, will…

  • Private Insurance Benefits and Cost-Sharing Under the ACA

    Perspective

    The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently released guidance on the two key components that determine the level of protection that private insurance plans will provide to consumers under health reform. The first involves the services that insurance plans must cover, and the second involves how much patients must pay out-of-pocket for those services. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) establishes new rules for what insurers must provide for both components starting in 2014.…

  • August Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: A Look At The GOP As The Republican Convention Draws Near

    Perspective

    Despite the ongoing focus on Republican opposition to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the latest Kaiser Health Tracking Poll finds that the ACA is not the top health care priority among Republicans. While jobs are still the number one issue, when asked about the health care issues that will impact their vote this fall, Republicans’ top concern was the cost of health care and insurance, named by two-thirds as either “extremely” or “very important” to…

  • The ACA and Fluoridation: The Power of Political Symbols

    Perspective

    In the 1950s, water fluoridation became a public health controversy that morphed into a symbolic issue of larger proportions. For its opponents, fluoridation came to symbolize big government and even for some, a communist threat. The controversy became so odd that it was parodied in Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 film “Dr. Strangelove,” in which General Jack Ripper starts a nuclear war to stop a communist plot to “sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids”…

  • Health Insurance Coverage for People with HIV Under the Affordable Care Act: Experiences in Five States

    Issue Brief

    To provide greater insight into how Affordable Care Act (ACA) implementation has affected people with HIV during the first year of major insurance expansions, this issue brief examines the experiences of people with HIV based on focus groups conducted in five states: California, Florida, Georgia, New York, and Texas. It is a part of KFF's larger ACA sentinel sites project.

  • New Policy Insight Examines Medical Debt Among Insured Consumers

    News Release

    In this new policy insight, Kaiser Family Foundation Senior Fellow Karen Pollitz explores how high cost sharing in health insurance plans can contribute to an individual’s medical debt, and explains how greater transparency in plan details could help consumers avoid some financial pitfalls. Medical Debt Among Insured Consumers: The Role of Cost Sharing, Transparency, and Consumer Assistance also provides an update on provisions of the Affordable Care Act meant to increase health plan transparency and…