The Trump Administration’s Hidden Attacks on the Affordable Care Act January 5, 2018 Perspective In a Washington Post op-ed, “The Trump administration’s hidden attacks on the Affordable Care Act,” Larry Levitt discusses the latest proposed regulations by the Trump administration to expand association health plans: changes that could wound the ACA insurance marketplace, but are unlikely to make it collapse.
Implications of Navigator Funding Changes on People with HIV: Navigator Perspectives December 4, 2017 Issue Brief This issue brief analyzes funding data and findings from stakeholder interviews with navigators serving people with HIV to assess the potential impact of navigator grant cuts on this population.
How Premiums Are Changing In 2018 November 29, 2017 Issue Brief Maps illustrate how premiums in Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplaces changed for 2018 by looking at the change in the lowest-cost bronze, silver and gold plans by county; counties where an individual’s tax credit covers the full premium of the lowest-cost bronze plan; and counties where the unsubsidized premium for the lowest-cost gold plan has a lower or comparable premium to the lowest-cost silver plan in 2018.
The Biggest Health Issue We Aren’t Debating November 22, 2017 Perspective In an Axios column, Drew Altman raises a health care issue that isn’t being debated, a large share of the public don’t have the assets to cover the cost sharing in their health plan if they get sick.
JAMA Forum: The Health Care Law that Continues to Escape Death November 20, 2017 Perspective In this November 2017 post for The JAMA Forum, Larry Levitt reviews the status of the Affordable Care Act following actions by the Trump administration widely perceived as designed to undermine the marketplaces. Despite assertions to the contrary, Levitt finds, “at least for now, the ACA seems very much alive.”
Kaiser Health Tracking Poll – November 2017: The Politics of Health Insurance Coverage, ACA Open Enrollment November 17, 2017 Poll Finding This month marks the start of the ACA’s fifth open enrollment period and finds three in ten of the public saying they haven’t heard anything at all about the current open enrollment period. Despite their overall views of the ACA, the majority of the public (61 percent) – including most Democrats (71 percent), independents (58 percent), and half of Republicans (52 percent) – say that because President Trump and Republicans in Congress are now in control of the government, they are responsible for any problems with the health care law moving forward. This month’s tracking poll also examines public support for two variations of a Medicare buy-in proposal.
2018 Renewal Notices – What Marketplace Consumers Need to Know November 13, 2017 Issue Brief As Open Enrollment for 2018 coverage gets underway, consumers who have health coverage through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplace are again receiving renewal notices from their health insurers. Though the insurer renewal notices this year are based on the same model notice required in the past, this year for many consumers, it may be causing significant – and misleading – sticker shock. That is because renewal notices sent by insurers are required to inform consumers what their 2018 monthly premium will be, assuming they receive the same amount of advanced premium tax credit (APTC) next year that they did in 2017. Insurer renewal notices have been required to present information this way since 2014.
ANALYSIS: More than Half of Uninsured People Eligible for Marketplace Insurance Could Pay Less for Health Plan than Individual Mandate Penalty November 9, 2017 News Release A new Kaiser Family Foundation analysis finds that more than half (54% or 5.9 million) of the 10.7 million people who are uninsured and eligible to purchase an Affordable Care Act marketplace plan in 2018 could pay less in premiums for health insurance than they would owe as an individual mandate tax penalty for lacking coverage.
How Many of the Uninsured Can Purchase a Marketplace Plan for Less Than Their Shared Responsibility Penalty? November 9, 2017 Issue Brief For people who are uninsured and eligible for Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace plans, the analysis compares the cost of a premium for the lowest-cost bronze plan with the estimated individual mandate tax penalty for 2018. It finds that more than half (54% or 5.9 million) of the 10.7 million people could pay less in premiums for health insurance than they would owe as an individual mandate tax penalty for lacking coverage.