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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  • What We Know About Provider Consolidation

    Issue Brief

    This brief reviews what we know about the impact of provider consolidation on health care prices and quality and finds that consolidation leads to higher prices with no compelling evidence of commensurate quality improvements.

  • When Cost-Sharing Waivers for COVID-19 Treatment Expire for People with Private Insurance Plans

    Feature

    About 88% – nearly nine in ten – enrollees in the individual and fully-insured group markets are covered by plans that have taken action to limit out-of-pocket costs for patients undergoing treatment for COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic. However, after accounting for waivers that have already expired (20%) or are scheduled to expire by the end of September (16%), just over half of enrollees in these plans will still be eligible for waived…

  • Contraception X Article: Out-of-Pocket Spending for Oral Contraceptives Among Women with Private Insurance Coverage After the Affordable Care Act

    Issue Brief

    In an article for Contraception X, KFF's Brittni Frederiksen, Matthew Rae, and Alina Salganicoff examine large employer plans to identify which types and brands of oral contraceptive pills have the largest shares of oral contraceptive users with out-of-pocket spending and which oral contraceptives have the highest average annual out-of-pocket costs after the ACA covered contraception under it's preventive services provisions.

  • Amid the Coronavirus Crisis, President Trump and Democratic Nominee Joe Biden Offer Widely Different Views on Health Care

    News Release

    President Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden hold widely divergent views on health issues, with the president’s record and response to the coronavirus pandemic likely to play a central role in November’s elections. A new KFF side-by-side comparison examines President Trump’s record and former Vice President Biden’s positions across a wide range of key health issues, including the response to the pandemic, the Affordable Care Act marketplace, Medicaid, Medicare, drug prices, reproductive health, HIV, mental…

  • Analysis: Many Private Insurers Offer Financial Relief for COVID-19 Treatment, but Cost-Sharing Waivers Are Expiring

    News Release

    A new analysis finds that most people with individual or fully-insured group market coverage are in plans that waived cost-sharing for COVID-19 treatment, though many of those waivers are set to expire in the coming months. About 88% - nearly nine in ten - enrollees in the individual and fully-insured group markets are covered by plans that have taken action to limit out-of-pocket costs for patients undergoing treatment for COVID-19 since the start of the…

  • How Private Insurers Are Using Telehealth to Respond to the Pandemic

    Issue Brief

    Private insurance plans have taken a variety of steps to expand telemedicine uptake and access during the COVID-19 pandemic. A new issue brief on the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker examines four actions private insurers have taken to promote telehealth usage among plan enrollees.

  • The Pandemic is Boosting the Public’s View of Doctors

    From Drew Altman

    In this Axios column, Drew Altman looks at how the heroic performance of the nation's doctors on the frontlines of coronavirus care and effective communication by many physician scientists on television, is shifting the public's views, with twice as many Americans now saying doctors put people ahead of profits than they did in earlier KFF polling.

  • Analysis Finds List Prices for COVID-19 Tests Range from $20 to $850 At Large Hospitals Nationwide

    News Release

    A new KFF analysis of what large hospitals nationwide charge for out-of-network COVID-19 tests show a wide range of publicly posted prices -- from $20 to $850 for a single test. In many cases, the prices exceed what Medicare pays for COVID testing, which is either $51 or $100 depending on the test. Federal law now requires private insurers, Medicare and Medicaid to cover COVID-19 tests without any cost to the patient and provides funding…