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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  • Trends in Employer-Sponsored Insurance Offer and Coverage Rates, 1999-2014

    Issue Brief

    This issue brief uses data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) to examine trends in employer-sponsored health insurance (ESI) for different of individuals and households in the United States. While ESI remains the leading source of coverage for nonelderly people, the percentage covered by an employer plan has declined over the past 15 years. A similar pattern exists with firm offer rates; fewer workers were offered health insurance from their employer in 2014 than…

  • Copay Adjustment Programs: What Are They and What Do They Mean for Consumers?

    Issue Brief

    Drug makers sometimes offer copay coupons to lower consumers’ out-of-pocket costs for their brand-name prescriptions, though how private health plans treat those coupons can substantially limit their value to consumers. This issue brief provides an overview of such copay adjustment programs, stakeholder arguments for and against their use, their prevalence, and federal and state efforts to address them.

  • 2024 Health Insurance Marketplace Calculator

    Interactive

    The Health Insurance Marketplace Calculator, updated with 2024 premium data, provides estimates of health insurance premiums and subsidies for people purchasing insurance on their own in health insurance exchanges (or “Marketplaces”) created by the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

  • New Analysis Examines Paid Time Off for Working Mothers when Their Children are Sick

    News Release

    For many women, missing work when their children have a cold or upset stomach takes a financial toll on family income. A new data note from the Kaiser Family Foundation reports on the number of working mothers who must take unpaid time off when their children are sick and discusses state and national policies addressing the issue. Balancing on Shaky Ground: Women, Work and Family Health recounts findings from a recent national Kaiser survey, including:…

  • Mapping Premium Variation in the Individual Market

    Issue Brief

    This analysis examines how premiums for individual health insurance differ around the nation, finding that premiums can vary substantially from state to state. The average per-person premium in 2010 ranged in cost from approximately $136 per month in Alabama to more than $400 per month in Vermont and Massachusetts. The average across all states was $215 per member per month. Given the fragmentation of the market and the lack of public data available about individual…

  • The Economy and Medical Care

    Perspective

    Various market watchers have reported that the use of health care services has not been growing recently as it had in the past, resulting in lower than expected health care claims for people with private insurance and higher than expected earnings for insurers. A look at physician office visits by nonelderly patients with private insurance over the past decade illustrates the change in the use of services (See the chart below). (This analysis was prepared…

  • Health Reform Implementation Timeline

    Interactive

    The health reform implementation timeline is an interactive tool designed to explain how and when the provisions of the Affordable Care Act will be implemented over the next several years.

  • Family Health Premiums Rise 3 Percent to $13,770 in 2010, But Workers’ Share Jumps 14 Percent as Firms Shift Cost Burden

    News Release

    About One In Four Covered Workers Now Face Annual Deductibles Of $1,000 Or More, Including Nearly Half Of Those Employed By Small Businesses WASHINGTON, D.C. --  Workers on average are paying nearly $4,000 this year toward the cost of family health coverage - an increase of 14 percent, or $482, above what they paid last year, according to the benchmark 2010 Employer Health Benefits Survey released today by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health…

  • Visualizing Health Policy: Health Coverage Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA)

    Other Post

    The December 2012 Visualizing Health Policy infographic is a flowchart illustrating the mechanisms by which people will get health coverage beginning in 2014. See the full-size infographic at The Journal of the American Medical Association. Visualizing Health Policy is a monthly infographic series produced in partnership with the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). Each month’s infographic is freely available on JAMA’s website and is published in the print edition of the journal.