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Affordable Care Act

The ACA MarketplaceS

Change in February effectuated enrollment, by state, 2025-2026

How Has ACA Marketplace Enrollment Changed Across States in 2026?

ACA Marketplace enrollment fell this year in every state except New Mexico, which was the only state to fully replace the enhanced premium tax credits that expired last year with a state-funded subsidy, according to a new KFF analysis of effectuated enrollment data. The Marketplace enrollment decline—the first in seven years—follows several years of rapid enrollment growth and coincides with the end of the enhanced federal subsidies.

How Much and Why ACA Marketplace Premiums Are Going Up in 2027

ACA Marketplaces insurers are proposing a median premium increase of 15% in 2027, according to KFF’s updated analysis of 276 insurers with publicly available filings across all 50 states and the District of Columbia. This is the second consecutive year of double-digit premium hikes. Last year’s median nationwide proposed rate change was 18%, and the median finalized rate change was 20%. While this proposed rate change is lower than last year, it represents the second-highest requested rate change since 2018, as premium growth had been relatively flat in this market for several years.

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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  • New Evidence Health Spending Is Growing Faster Again

    From Drew Altman

    In this column for The Wall Street Journal’s Think Tank, Drew Altman discusses new Census Department survey data showing higher health spending growth over the last four economic quarters, and raises the question: is the health spending slowdown over?

  • Workplace Wellness Programs Characteristics and Requirements

    Issue Brief

    This issue brief summarizes what’s known about workplace wellness programs offered by employers today and the use of financial incentives to encourage workers to participate. Findings are drawn from the KFF/HRET Annual Employer Health Benefits Survey. In addition, the brief reviews proposed changes by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in federal standards governing financial incentives by workplace wellness programs and how these changes might balance the use of incentives against other discrimination and privacy…

  • Medicaid Delivery System and Payment Reform: A Guide to Key Terms and Concepts

    Fact Sheet

    There is wide state variation in Medicaid health care delivery and payment systems, as states design and combine service delivery models and payment approaches in a multitude of ways. To help those interested in understanding the diversity of Medicaid reform initiatives underway or in development in states across the country, this guide defines key terms.

  • Three Quarters of the Public, Including a Majority of Trump Supporters, Want President Trump to Try to Make the Affordable Care Act Work

    News Release

    Americans See Many Factors Behind AHCA’s Failure, But Few Republicans Blame President Trump Despite divided views about the Affordable Care Act, three-fourths of the public (75%) say President Trump and his administration should do what they can to make the law work, while one in five (19%), including 38 percent of Republicans, say the Administration should do what it can to make the law fail so they can replace it later, the latest Kaiser Health…

  • Why Trump’s Dealmaking Model Doesn’t Fit Health Care Policy

    From Drew Altman

    In this column as an Axios contributor, Drew Altman discusses President Trump's threat to withhold cost sharing subsidies and questions whether his approach to deal making can bridge health care's partisan and ideological divide. "Health policy is not like real estate," he says.

  • Federal Government Could See Net Increase of $2.3 Billion in Costs in 2018 if ACA Cost-Sharing Reduction Payments Eliminated

    News Release

    Ceasing payments for the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) cost-sharing reduction program could save $10 billion, but cost an additional $12.3 billion in premium tax credits – an estimated net increase of $2.3 billion, or 23 percent, in federal spending on marketplace subsidies – in 2018, if insurers continue to participate in ACA marketplaces, according to a new analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation. The cost-sharing subsidies, established to reduce out-of-pocket costs for ACA marketplace enrollees…

  • A Profile of Community Health Center Patients: Implications for Policy

    Issue Brief

    Community health centers are a key source of primary care in underserved areas. Their role will grow as coverage expands under the ACA. To sharpen understanding of the health center patient population, this brief compares them to the low-income population overall, using the Health Center Patient Survey and National Health Interview Survey. The pre-ACA profile of health center patients that emerges sets the stage for measuring change and highlights important implications of states’ Medicaid expansion…

  • A Guide to the Supreme Court’s Review of the Contraceptive Coverage Requirement

    Issue Brief

    This issue brief dissects the issues raised by the legal challenges to the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that private insurance plans include contraception as part of their coverage of preventive services for women. Over 40 for-profit corporations and over 40 nonprofit corporations have filed lawsuits claiming that the requirement to provide their employees with contraceptives violates their religious rights. On November 26, 2013, the Supreme Court agreed to hear two cases filed by for-profit corporations,…

  • How Will the Uninsured in Arkansas Fare Under the Affordable Care Act?

    Fact Sheet

    This state report explains how the ACA expands coverage in Arkansas, including a breakdown of how many uninsured people are eligible for Medicaid, how many are eligible for financial assistance to help them buy private insurance in the new Marketplace and how many will not receive any financial assistance at all. The report also details, in specific dollar figures, the income levels at which people in Arkansas are eligible for Medicaid or financial assistance in…