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Hospital Prices Have Risen Much Faster for Private Insurance Than Medicare Since 2019

Hospitals account for nearly one-third of US health spending and 40% of spending growth from 2022-2024. Analysis shows hospital prices paid by private insurers have risen faster than Medicare rates since 2019, a trend with implications for affordability.

Hospital prices paid by private insurers rose 30% from 2019-2026, compared to a 21% increase in Medicare payment rates. The disparate growth widened an existing gap between what Medicare and private plans pay for hospital services.

What Are the Recent Trends in Employer-Based Health Coverage?

Policy Changes Bring Renewed Focus on High-Deductible Health Plans

Health Insurer Financial Performance in 2024

Examining Short-Term Limited-Duration Health Plans

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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  • 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…

  • Poll: Most Democrats Prefer a Presidential Candidate Who Wants to Build on the Affordable Care Act

    News Release

    The latest KFF Health Tracking Poll probes Democrats’ views about the general approaches to expanding health coverage and lowering costs put forward by the candidates. Most Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents (55%) say they prefer a candidate who would build on the Affordable Care Act to achieve those goals. Fewer (40%) prefer a candidate who would replace the ACA with a Medicare-for-all plan. Even among those who prefer a candidate who would replace the ACA with…

  • Pulling it Together: Last Week’s Health Reform “Shocker”

    Perspective

    Last week we learned that health reform could cost the federal government at least a trillion dollars over ten years, and that it will be really difficult to forge bipartisan agreement on legislation and keep major interest groups on board. This obviously brought more angst to the deliberations, several Republicans seized the moment to criticize the Democrats' plans, and the press was all over it, with many commentators declaring health reform in dire straits. But…

  • Health Care Costs Survey – Toplines

    Poll Finding

    This document includes the toplines from the joint USA Today/Kaiser/Harvard School of Public Health survey exploring Americans’ views on health care costs. Survey Toplines (.pdf)

  • Uniform Coverage Summaries for Consumers

    Issue Brief

    This brief explains the proposed federal rule that requires private health plans to provide a short, easy-to-read uniform summary of benefits and coverage to all health insurance applicants and enrollees. The rule, which implements a provision in the Affordable Care Act (ACA), is intended to make it simpler for consumers to compare health plans before they enroll and understand their coverage once they are enrolled. Currently, consumers in employer-sponsored plans receive summaries of their benefits,…

  • Brief Examines Efforts to Create Health Plan Options that Don’t Comply with the Affordable Care Act’s Rules

    News Release

    Though Congress last year failed to repeal key Affordable Care Act requirements for non-group health insurance that people buy themselves, the Trump Administration and some states are promoting other types of plans through regulatory changes that would allow the sale of products that skirt many of the ACA’s requirements. A new Kaiser Family Foundation brief examines four of those options and the tradeoffs involved if such loosely regulated markets take root as an alternative to…

  • New KFF Resource Tracks Proposed 2019 Marketplace Premiums By State

    News Release

    The Kaiser Family Foundation today launched a tracker to monitor preliminary 2019 premiums in the Affordable Care Act’s marketplaces as insurers file rate information with state regulators. Beginning with data from eight states (Maine, Maryland, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Washington) plus the District of Columbia, the tracker shows preliminary premium information in nine major cities for the lowest-cost bronze plan and “benchmark” silver plan, which is used to determine the size of the…