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

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  • Compare the Candidates on Health Care Policy

    Feature

    The side-by-side comparison tool provides a quick overview of former President Trump's and Vice President Harris' records, positions, public statements, and proposed policies on a range of key health care topics.

  • Supreme Court Decision Limiting the Authority of Federal Agencies Could Have Far-Reaching Impacts for Health Policy

    Issue Brief

    On June 28, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a longstanding legal precedent that required federal courts to defer to reasonable agency interpretation when statutes are ambiguous. The decision will shift many policy decisions from federal agencies to federal judges, with implications for health policy that will reverberate for years to come. This issue brief examines the decision and assesses what’s ahead.

  • Another Year of Record ACA Marketplace Signups, Driven in Part by Medicaid Unwinding and Enhanced Subsidies

    Policy Watch

    Open enrollment for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplaces is about to wrap up with another record high number of people signing up for coverage. Factors that contribute to this increase include unwinding of the Medicaid continuous enrollment, increased subsidies from the American Rescue Plan and Inflation Reduction Act, and increased marketing, outreach, and enrollment assistance.

  • Charges for Emails with Doctors and other Healthcare Providers

    Issue Brief

    Patient-provider email messaging accelerated early in the COVID-19 pandemic as more patients sought medical care remotely, and the addition of billing codes for digital health services and subsequent changes in insurers’ payment policies have enabled providers to bill insurers and patients for messaging.

  • SCOTUS Case Could Weaken the Impact of Regulation on Key Patient and Consumer Protections

    Issue Brief

    This brief discusses the longstanding legal doctrine, Chevron deference, being challenged in two cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and includes examples of what could be at stake for health care consumers should federal courts no longer use this doctrine to address litigation related to federal health regulations. The focus here is on patient and consumer protection regulation, but overturning the Chevron deference would have implications in all areas of health care.

  • 2023 Employer Health Benefits Chart Pack

    Feature

    This slideshow captures key data from the 2023 KFF Employer Health Benefits Survey survey, providing a detailed look at trends in employer-sponsored health coverage, including premiums, employee contributions, cost-sharing, abortion coverage, offer rates, wellness programs, and other employer practices.

  • Health Insurer Financial Performance in 2024

    Issue Brief

    This analysis of trends in health insurers’ financial data shows that insurers’ gross margins per enrollee dipped slightly in 2024 across four markets, remaining highest in the Medicare Advantage market, followed by the individual (non-group) market, the fully insured group (employer) market, and Medicaid managed care. The analysis also examines insurers’ medical-loss ratios across the four markets.

  • Outpatient Visits Are Growing More Complex: Implications for Health Costs

    Issue Brief

    This analysis for the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker uses claims data from private, large employer-based plan to examine trends in complexity coding across outpatient practice settings from 2004 to 2021. It finds a trend toward higher complexity codes that contributes to higher outpatient spending.