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.”

View all of Drew’s Beyond the Data Columns

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  • The ACA Marketplace Problems in Context (and Why They Don’t Mean Obamacare Is ‘Failing’)

    From Drew Altman

    In this Wall Street Journal Think Tank column, Drew Altman discusses the latest challenges faced by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplaces and why they should be kept in perspective: “If Obamacare had bipartisan support, they would be treated much more like mundane implementation issues to be addressed by Congress than glaring headlines about Obamacare failure.”

  • Premiums and Worker Contributions Among Workers Covered by Employer-Sponsored Coverage, 1999-2020

    Interactive

    This graphing tool allows users to explore trends in workplace-sponsored health insurance premiums and worker contributions over time for different categories of employers based on results from the annual Employer Health Benefits Survey. Breakouts are available by firm size, region and industry, as well as for firms with relatively few or many part-time workers, higher- or lower-wage workers, and older or younger workers.

  • Affordability in the ACA Marketplace Under a Proposal Like Joe Biden’s Health Plan

    Issue Brief

    This KFF analysis finds that expanding Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium subsidies like Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has proposed would lower the cost of Marketplace coverage for nearly all potential enrollees, including the uninsured and others currently priced out of the Marketplace. Biden's plan would, however, increase federal spending, which we do not attempt to estimate here.

  • Is COVID-19 a Pre-Existing Condition? What Could Happen if the ACA is Overturned

    Policy Watch

    If the ACA is overturned, federal law protection for people with pre-existing health conditions would end.  This post examines what that could mean for people in the time of COVID-19, including whether and how insurers could deny coverage to people who have had COVID or other pre-existing conditions.

  • Examining Prior Authorization in Health Insurance

    Policy Watch

    This post explains what's known about how insurers use prior authorization as a tool to control costs and encourage cost-effective care, the state and federal laws that govern it, and ongoing policy debates over efforts to impose standards to limit or regulate its use.

  • How are Large Private Insurers Covering At-Home Rapid Tests?

    News Release

    Less than a week after a new federal mandate to cover such products took effect, about half of the nation’s largest private insurers allow enrollees to directly obtain rapid at-home COVID-19 tests from specific sources without having to pay anything upfront, a new KFF analysis finds. The new coverage requirement took effect Jan.

  • Marketplace Sign-ups Increased by 21% in 2022

    Feature

    Forty-seven states saw Marketplace enrollment increase, ranging from 1% in Rhode Island to 42% in Texas. In 20 states, enrollment increased by more than 20%.