The Affordable Care Act’s fourth open enrollment period begins Nov. 1, and this year there are new challenges in terms of boosting coverage among healthy individuals and changing options for customers purchasing insurance through the state and federal marketplaces.

On October 25, 2016, the Kaiser Family Foundation held a web briefing to examine key issues affecting this year’s annual enrollment period and answer audience questions during a web briefing, including:

• Who remains uninsured nationally, and how many are eligible for Medicaid or subsidized marketplace coverage;
• How competition among insurers is changing in the marketplaces;
• What consumers can expect to see in terms of premium increases;
• The role that tax credits and cost-sharing subsidies play in making marketplace coverage more affordable;
• Who is affected by state decisions about expanding Medicaid; and
• Key considerations for marketplace customers shopping for a plan for next year.

Larry Levitt, senior vice president for special initiatives and co-executive director of the Foundation’s Program for the Study of Health Reform and Private Insurance, moderated the discussion with panelists, Rachel Garfield, senior researcher and associate director of the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured; Cynthia Cox, associate director of the Program for the Study of Health Reform and Private Insurance; and Senior Fellow Karen Pollitz.