Home Private Insurance Topics

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

New and Noteworthy

Policy Changes Bring Renewed Focus on High-Deductible Health Plans

Policy changes, anticipated increases in premium costs for enrollees, and new standards for health savings accounts may encourage consumers to seek out plans with lower premiums but higher deductibles. This issue brief explores the features of bronze and catastrophic plans, coverage and costs, and the complicated choices consumers face.

Explaining Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangements (ICHRAs)

Examining Short-Term Limited-Duration Health Plans

Health Savings Account Provisions in the 2025 Tax and Spending Law

Consumer Experiences with Health Insurance

Latest News

More KFF Health News

Subscribe to KFF Emails

Choose which emails are best for you.
Sign up here

View the Latest: Private Insurance

Filter

List Grid

461 - 470 of 886 Results

  • New Policy Insight Examines Medical Debt Among Insured Consumers

    News Release

    In this new policy insight, Kaiser Family Foundation Senior Fellow Karen Pollitz explores how high cost sharing in health insurance plans can contribute to an individual’s medical debt, and explains how greater transparency in plan details could help consumers avoid some financial pitfalls.

  • Visualizing Health Policy: Premium Changes in the Affordable Care Act’s Insurance Marketplaces 2014-2015

    News Release

    This Visualizing Health Policy infographic illustrates the change in monthly premiums by county, and select cities, from 2014 to 2015 for a 40-year-old person covered by the second-lowest-cost silver “benchmark” plan in the Affordable Care Act’s insurance marketplaces. Premium changes were greatest in Summit County, Colo. (45% decrease) and southeastern Alaska (34% increase), before tax credits.

  • The Cost of Care with Marketplace Coverage

    Issue Brief

    This brief and accompanying slides examine cost sharing - deductibles, copayments and coinsurance - in 2015 insurance plans sold on the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) federally-facilitated marketplaces. The analysis looks at out-of-pocket limits, as well as cost sharing for hospital stays, physician visits, emergency room visits, and prescription drugs, for plans across the metal levels (platinum, gold, silver and bronze).

  • Snapshot of Where Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump Stand on Seven Health Care Issues

    Issue Brief

    Where do the 2016 Presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, stand on key health care issues? This snapshot outlines the candidates' positions and policy statements on issues such as health insurance, the ACA, Medicaid, Medicare, the opioid epidemic, prescription drug costs, women's reproductive health, and Zika.

  • Where President-elect Donald Trump Stands on Six Health Care Issues

    Issue Brief

    Where does President-elect Donald Trump stand on key health care issues? This snapshot outlines his positions and policy statements during the campaign on issues such as health insurance, the ACA, Medicaid, Medicare, the opioid epidemic, prescription drug costs, and women's reproductive health.

  • Free Coronavirus Testing for Privately Insured Patients?

    Policy Watch

    While privately insured people are eligible to have the cost of coronavirus testing covered 100% by their health plan, that doesn't mean that insured patients won’t be asked to pay up front for the cost of testing or that they can easily be reimbursed.

  • Individual Insurance Market Performance in 2019

    Issue Brief

    New data from 2019 suggest that insurers in the individual market remain profitable, even with average premiums falling for the first time since the ACA was implemented. These data indicate that the individual market appears to be stable in 2019, despite the repeal of the individual mandate penalty and the proliferation of loosely-regulated short-term insurance plans.