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

Subscribe to KFF Emails

Choose which emails are best for you.
Sign up here

Filter

811 - 820 of 896 Results

  • “Deductible Relief Day” is May 19

    News Release

    Deductible Relief Day is May 19. That’s the date by which average spending for people with employer-sponsored health insurance is sufficient to satisfy the average deductible, the amount they must pay out-of-pocket for most health care services before their insurance plan kicks in to help pay the bills, KFF analysts explain in a new analysis. If you have not heard of Deductible Relief Day before, that is because we just invented it. But the issue…

  • How Many of the Uninsured Can Purchase a Marketplace Plan for Free?

    Issue Brief

    This analysis looks at how many of the remaining uninsured are eligible for premium subsidies that are large enough to cover the entire cost of a bronze plan, which is the minimum level of coverage available on the Marketplaces. It estimates 27% of uninsured individuals who could shop on the ACA Marketplace, or 4.2 million people nationwide, are eligible to purchase a bronze plan with $0 premiums after subsidies in 2019.

  • If the Affordable Care Act is Struck Down, Nearly All Americans Would Be Affected in Some Way

    News Release

    The Affordable Care Act’s changes to the nation’s health care system are so widespread that nearly all Americans would be affected in some way if a federal judge’s decision ruling the entire law unconstitutional is upheld, according to a new analysis from KFF (the Kaiser Family Foundation). While the changes to the individual insurance market – including protections for people with pre-existing conditions, creation of insurance marketplaces, and premium subsidies for low and modest income…

  • 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…

  • Short-Term Health Insurance Plans Charge Less than Half as Much in Premiums as ACA Plans By Excluding Pre-Existing Conditions and Severely Limiting Benefits

    News Release

    Short-term health insurance plans offer a trade-off for consumers: substantially lower premiums than plans that comply with the Affordable Care Act, but much less protection if they get sick and need care. Just how much cheaper are the premiums and what are consumers giving up to get them? A new KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation) analysis finds short-term plans are able to charge premiums 54 percent lower than ACA-compliant plans, by excluding pre-existing conditions and severely…