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?

Stay informed.

Stay informed.

Filter

781 - 790 of 2,787 Results

  • Pulling it Together: What Will Health Reform Do For Me?

    Perspective

    There is one poll number that may be more important to watch than any other if we have a big debate about health reform: The percentage of Americans who think that they or their families would be better off if the president and the Congress enacted major health reform legislation. It's a number that signals whether people think that health reform legislation will actually help them with the problems they are having in the current…

  • Health Insurance Exchange Development: Innovation in the States

    Event Date:
    Event

    Under health reform, state-based health insurance exchanges are a mechanism to buy private insurance beginning in 2014. Through panel discussions with state leaders and stakeholders, this briefing, jointly sponsored by the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC), the Kaiser Family Foundation and the University of Virginia's Batten School of Leadership, explored states’ progress on the exchanges and identified next steps. Agenda (.pdf) Speaker Biographies (.pdf)

  • Determining Income for Adults Applying for Medicaid and Exchange Coverage Subsidies: How Income Measured With a Prior Tax Return Compares to Current Income at Enrollment

    Issue Brief

    A major goal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) is to significantly expand coverage and reduce the number of uninsured. Beginning in 2014, the ACA will establish a new continuum of coverage that will provide assistance to individuals with incomes up to 400% of poverty through a broad expansion in Medicaid and by making premium tax credits available to eligible individuals to purchase coverage through new Health Insurance Exchanges. The law standardizes…

  • Report and Video Highlight Health Coverage Struggles, Other Economic Concerns of Working Families

    Event Date:
    Event

    This report and video from the Kaiser Family Foundation's Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured (KCMU) illustrate the financial struggles of many families in the United States and show the central role of health care costs and coverage in a household's economic stability. The report, Snapshots from the Kitchen Table: Family Budgets and Health Care, is based on interviews with 27 families from six cities across the U.S.. It finds pervasive uncertainty over job security…

  • Massachusetts and Washington: Financial Alignment Demonstrations for Dual Eligible Beneficiaries Compared

    Fact Sheet

    This fact sheet examines the similarities and differences between the five-year demonstrations in Massachusetts and Washington state to integrate care and align financing for people dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid. The states finalized memoranda of understanding (MOUs) with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in fall 2012, and the demonstrations in each state are set to begin in April 2013. Fact Sheet (.pdf)

  • Medicaid Long-Term Services and Supports: Key Changes in the Health Reform Law

    Issue Brief

    This issue brief examines new opportunities under the health reform law for states to balance their Medicaid long-term care delivery systems by expanding access to Medicaid home and community-based services (HCBS) programs. The brief outlines key provisions of the new law that expand HCBS benefit options, broaden financial and functional eligibility criteria, and provide additional financial incentives for states to further shift their Medicaid long-term services budgets to non-institutional settings. Issue Brief (.pdf)

  • Mobile Technology: Smart Tools to Increase Participation in Health Coverage

    Issue Brief

    As mobile technology advances and cell phone use continues to increase across demographic groups, there is significant potential to tap these technologies to facilitate enrollment in and retention of health coverage, in both the immediate term and as health reform is implemented. A brief produced in conjunction with The Children's Partnership examines how various tools and strategies, including text messages and smart phone apps, can be used to advance coverage goals. The report focuses especially…

  • Medicaid Matters: Understanding Medicaid’s Role in Our Health Care System

    Fact Sheet

    This fact sheet provides key information about the Medicaid program and its role in our health care system and state economies. The nation’s public health insurance program for low-income people is counter-cyclical, expanding during the recent recession to assist millions of individuals and families affected by the loss of jobs and job-based health insurance. While the program has worked as intended, economic conditions have contributed to growing pressure on state budgets and Medicaid funding. This…

  • A Guide to the Supreme Court’s Affordable Care Act Decision

    Issue Brief

    This policy brief describes the Supreme Court's decision on the Affordable Care Act and looks ahead to the implementation of health reform now that questions about the constitutionality of the law have been resolved. Brief (.pdf)

  • State Exchange Profiles: Ohio

    Other Post

    Final update made on March 25, 2013 (no further updates will be made) Establishing the Exchange On November 16, 2012, Governor John Kasich (R) notified federal officials that Ohio would default to a federally-facilitated exchange; however, the state would maintain regulatory control over its insurance industry.1 The Governor also indicated Ohio would maintain control over Medicaid eligibility determinations. Prior to the announcement, the Department of Insurance in collaboration with other stakeholder agencies solicited subcontractors’ assistance for…