Private Insurance

Health Care Affordability

BTD Health Policy in 2026

Health Policy in 2026

President and CEO Dr. Drew Altman forecasts eight things to look for in health policy in 2026. “First and foremost,” he writes, “is the role health care affordability will play in the midterms.” And, he notes: “The average cost of a family policy for employers could approach $30,000 and cost sharing and deductibles will rise again after plateauing for several years.”

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  • New Analysis Finds High Out-of-Pocket Spending Increased for People Covered by Large Employer Plans

    News Release

      A new Kaiser Family Foundation analysis finds about one in four people (24%) covered by large employer plans spent more than $1,000 out-of-pocket on health care in 2015, an increase of seven percentage points from 17 percent in 2005. About 1 in 10 people in such plans (12%) paid more than $2,000 out-of-pocket in 2015, a distribution that mirrors the distribution of overall health spending, according to the new analysis of claims data. Dollar…

  • 2015 Survey of Health Insurance Marketplace Assister Programs and Brokers

    Report

    This nationwide survey analysis of Marketplace consumer assistance programs and brokers examines the nature of Marketplace assistance during the second open enrollment period for 2015 coverage, and offers unique insights into how Affordable Care Act (ACA) implementation is progressing, what is changing, and what challenges remain. Building upon our Survey of Health Insurance Marketplace Assister Programs (2014), the analysis compares Assister Program capacity and experiences from the first open enrollment period to the next, and…

  • Analysis Estimates 1 in 4 Employers Offering Health Benefits Could Be Affected by the ‘Cadillac Tax’ in 2018 if Current Trends Continue

    News Release

    Share of Potentially-Affected Employers Could Grow to 30% in 2023, 42% in 2028, Analysis Finds New projections from the Kaiser Family Foundation estimate that one in four employers (26%) offering health benefits could be subject to the Affordable Care Act’s tax on high-cost health plans, also known as the "Cadillac plan" tax, in 2018 unless they make changes to their plans. The analysis also estimates that the share of employers potentially affected by the tax…

  • Employer Family Health Premiums Rise 4 Percent to $17,545 in 2015, Extending a Decade-Long Trend of Relatively Moderate Increases

    News Release

    Since 2010, Deductibles for All Workers Have Risen Almost Three Times as Fast as Premiums and About Seven Times as Fast as Wages and Inflation Facing New Requirements, Few Employers Make Changes to Workers' Hours Menlo Park, Calif. – Single and family premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance rose an average of 4 percent this year, continuing a decade-long period of moderate growth, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation/Health Research & Educational Trust (HRET) 2015 Employer Health Benefits…

  • Analysis: ‘Cadillac Tax’ on High-Cost Health Plans Could Affect 1 in 5 Employers in 2022

    News Release

    A new KFF analysis estimates that the Affordable Care Act’s tax on high-cost health plans would affect one in five (21%) employers offering health benefits when it takes effect in 2022 unless employers change their health plans. An even larger share (31%) could be affected when workers’ voluntary contributions to Flexible Spending Accounts are taken into account. The analysis comes as some in Congress are proposing to repeal the ACA’s tax on high-cost health plans,…

  • Some Can Get Marketplace Plans With No Premiums,Though With Higher Deductibles and Cost-Sharing

    News Release

    Many low-income consumers who are eligible for federal financial help under the Affordable Care Act can get a bronze-level plan and pay nothing out-of-pocket in premiums in more than 2,000 counties next year, depending on their annual income, according to a new analysis from KFF (the Kaiser Family Foundation). Such plans come with higher deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums, however. The analysis finds that the ACA’s premium tax credits would cover the full premium of the lowest-cost bronze…

  • A Look at People Who Have Persistently High Spending on Health Care

    Issue Brief

    This analysis looks at the amounts and types of health spending for people with employer-based health insurance who have continuing high health care spending. It finds that, among people with three consecutive years of coverage from a large employer, just 1.3 percent of enrollees accounted for almost 20 percent of overall spending in 2017. This group – people in the top five percent of spending in each of the three years from 2015 to 2017…

  • Analysis: Workers Increasingly Have Access to Same-Sex Spousal Benefits 

    News Release

    While workplace health benefits for married same-sex spouses are becoming more common, new data from KFF’s 2018 Employer Health Benefits Survey shows they still lag behind benefits available to opposite sex-spouses. In 2018, nearly two-thirds (63%) of employers offering health insurance coverage to opposite-sex spouses also provided coverage to same-sex spouses – up significantly from 2016, when fewer than half (43%) did. Few (6%) say they do not offer same-sex spousal benefits, while others, mostly…