Health Costs

Health Care Affordability

Affordable Care Act

Updated Larry QT on ePTCs

There is No Drop-Dead Date for an ACA Tax Credit Extension, But Coverage Losses Will Mount as the Clock Ticks

While the Affordable Care Act’s enhanced premium tax credits expired at the end of 2025, there is no absolute drop-dead date for extending them. An extension could happen even after the deadline to sign up for coverage and be made retroactive to January 1. Open enrollment could also be extended to allow people time to change their plans or allow new people to sign up. ACA enrollees would welcome premium relief whenever it comes, explains KFF's Larry Levitt.

ACA Signups Are Down, But Still an Incomplete Picture

Data currently being released represent Open Enrollment ACA Marketplace plan selections, or how many people have signed up for or been automatically renewed into 2026 coverage. These data do not necessarily translate to enrollments. That is because people who have selected a plan or been automatically renewed may not ultimately choose to pay for their coverage, thus “effectuating” their enrollment.

KEY RESOURCES
  • Health Policy 101: Costs and Affordability

    This Health Policy 101 chapter explores trends in health care costs in the U.S. and the factors that contribute to this spending. It also examines how health care spending varies and the impact on affordability and people's overall financial vulnerability.  


  • Americans’ Challenges with Health Care Costs

    This data note reviews our recent polling data that finds that Americans struggle to afford many aspects of health care, including disproportionate shares of uninsured adults, Black and Hispanic adults and those with lower incomes.

  • National Health Spending Explorer

    This interactive Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker tool allows users to examine five decades worth of data on health expenditures by federal and local governments, private insurers, and individuals.

  • Polling on Prescription Drugs and Their Prices

    This chart collection draws on recent KFF poll findings to provide an in-depth look at the public’s attitudes toward prescription drugs and their prices. Results include Americans’ opinions on drug affordability, pharmaceutical companies, and various potential measures that could lower prices.

Subscribe to KFF Emails

Choose which emails are best for you.
Sign up here

Filter

1,111 - 1,120 of 1,546 Results

  • A Study of Media Coverage of Health Policy 1997-2000

    Poll Finding

    The debate over President Clinton's national health care reform plan put health care policy at the forefront of the national agenda in 1993 and 1994. After the end of that debate, it remained to be seen whether or not health policy would hold the media's and the public s interest to the same degree.

  • Trends and Indicators in the Changing Health Care Marketplace 2002

    Report

    This chartbook provides information on key trends in the health care marketplace including health spending, the structure of the health care marketplace, and health plan and provider relationships. It highlights data on health plan enrollment, premiums, and benefits, and the implications of health market trends for consumers and the safety net. Chartbook (.

  • Health News Index – September/October 2001

    Poll Finding

    Health News Index September/October, 2001 The September/October 2001 edition of the Kaiser Family Foundation/Harvard School of Public Health Health News Index includes questions about major health stories covered in the news, including reports about rising health insurance premiums and Americans most important sources for health news and information.

  • The Working Uninsured in California and the US

    Issue Brief

    This issue brief, prepared by Linda Blumberg and Len Nichols of the Urban Institute, examines the factors contributing to the disproportionately high rates of uninsurance among California's workers compared to the

  • Recent Attitudes Towards Patients Rights and Managed Care

    Report

    Newly released survey findings show continued public support for patient protections, including the right to sue health plans, but that support erodes if people believe that the cost of health insurance may increase or that companies might stop offering health coverage to their workers.

  • Medicaid and Managed Care

    Fact Sheet

    This fact sheet provides an overview of the Medicaid program's increasing reliance on managed care to deliver services.

  • Georgetown’s Report on External Review of Health Plan Decisions: An Update

    Other Post

    Georgetown's Report on External Review of Health Plan Decisions: An Update External Review of Health Plan Decisions: An Update, prepared for the Kaiser Family Foundation by Geraldine Dallek and Karen Pollitz of The Institute for Health Care Research and Policy, Georgetown University.