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How Employers Support Lower-Waged Workers’ Access to Health Insurance Options

Health insurance makes up 8% of total employee compensation on average, and while most employees take up health insurance when it is offered, lower-wage workers are far less likely to be able to access coverage, according to a new Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker analysis of survey data and focus groups with more than 100 U.S. employers with over a quarter of a million employees.

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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  • Poll: Strong Initial Support for a Public Option, But Arguments Can Significantly Shift Views

    News Release

    Health Care Remains a Top Issue for Democrats Heading into Next Debates; At This Stage, More Want to Hear About Candidates’ Difference than Contrasts with President Trump The 2020 presidential election may be shaping up to be another election cycle focused on health care, with Democratic candidates offering competing proposals aimed at expanding coverage and controlling costs and a pending legal battle over the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. The latest KFF tracking poll…

  • As Policymakers Debate Medicare-for-All, Analysis Finds the Medicare Advantage, Individual and Group Health Insurance Markets Appear to Be Profitable, Especially Medicare Advantage

    News Release

    Three key private health insurance markets -- Medicare Advantage, the individual market and the fully-insured group market -- appear to be financially healthy and attractive to insurers, according to a new KFF analysis. The private Medicare Advantage market generates significantly larger gross margins per person than the individual market or fully-insured market, the analysis finds. The future of these markets has become a focus for policymakers amid the debate over Medicare for All. Some proposals…

  • 2019 Health Insurance Marketplace Calculator

    Interactive

    The Health Insurance Marketplace Calculator, updated with 2019 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). With this calculator, you can enter your income, age, and family size to estimate your eligibility for subsidies and how much you could spend on health insurance.

  • 2016 Survey of Health Insurance Marketplace Assister Programs and Brokers

    Report

    In its third year, the survey tracks the experiences of assistance programs signing people up for Affordable Care Act coverage during open enrollment and, for consumers who qualify, during special enrollment periods. This year, for the second time, the survey includes health insurance brokers who helped people apply for non-group coverage in an ACA marketplace.

  • New KFF/Los Angeles Times Survey Highlights the Financial Challenges Facing People with Employer Health Benefits

    News Release

    A new KFF/Los Angeles Times survey of Americans with employer health benefits finds that although most are largely satisfied with their employer plan, many report financial challenges related to their health care costs, particularly among those facing high deductibles or suffering from chronic health conditions. The survey captures the experiences of the roughly 156 million Americans who get their health coverage through their employers, rather than through the individual market or government programs such as…

  • Individual Insurance Market Performance in 2018

    Issue Brief

    Individual market insurers are expecting to return to consumers a record total of about $800 million in medical loss ratio rebates for 2018, a year in which the insurance companies posted their best annual financial performance under the Affordable Care Act to date. Financial results for 2018 suggest that insurers in the individual market are generally returning to or exceeding profitability levels seen before 2014, when ACA insurance market rules took effect, including the requirement…

  • The Silent Affordability Crisis Facing Sick People

    From Drew Altman

    In this Axios column, Drew Altman shows that employer coverage for lower wage workers is much worse than ACA marketplace coverage for similar populations. It’s a bigger problem we need to talk about more, he says.

  • Deductible Relief Day: How Rising Deductibles are Affecting People with Employer Coverage

    Issue Brief

    This analysis examines how health insurance deductibles are affecting consumers with employer-sponsored insurance. Deductibles have risen in recent years and become an increasingly prominent feature of job-based health plans. "Deductible Relief Day" refers to the date by which average spending for people with employer-sponsored health insurance is sufficient to satisfy the average deductible.

  • JAMA Forum: Medicare-For-All or Medicare-For-More?

    Perspective

    In this May 2019 post for The JAMA forum, Larry Levitt examines how the early discussion and positioning among the presidential candidates offers a glimpse into how a debate about Medicare-for-all might play out.