Consumer Assistance

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) established in-person consumer assistance programs to help people identify coverage options and enroll. A variety of professionals provide consumer assistance, including Navigator programs that are funded through state and federal marketplaces, brokers who receive commissions from insurers, local non-profit organizations, and health care providers. In the spring of 2020, KFF surveyed consumers most likely to use or benefit from consumer assistance to learn who uses consumer assistance, why they seek help, and what difference it makes as well as who does not get help and why.

Ahead of the annual Affordable Care Act (ACA) open enrollment period, the time during which consumers can shop for health plans or renew existing coverage, KFF has updated and expanded its searchable collection of more than 300 Frequently Asked Questions about open enrollment, the health insurance marketplaces and the ACA.…

This fact sheet explains 2020 health coverage options that may be available to people who have low incomes, including Medicaid coverage or individual insurance plans through Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplaces.

Karen Pollitz, senior fellow for health reform and private insurance at KFF, answers three questions about denied claims and how the federal government may change the data insurers are required to report on this issue.

Community health centers provide comprehensive primary care services in some of the most underserved communities in the nation. This brief summarizes findings from the Kaiser Family Foundation/Geiger Gibson Program in Community Health Policy 2018 Health Center Survey to provide a snapshot of health centers’ outreach and enrollment activities as well as changes in service capacity, and overall financial condition since implementation of the ACA.

Overall ACA marketplace signups for 2018 dropped by 3.7 percent compared to last year’s enrollment period, a new analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation finds. 11,760,533 people signed up for 2018 health insurance coverage on the ACA individual marketplaces, amid steep reductions in federal funding for outreach and navigators, an…

This fact sheet highlights the states and situations where consumers can still sign up for a 2018 marketplace plan even though the Dec. 15 deadline for enrolling in healthcare.gov states has passed. It includes consumers in states who have extended open enrollment periods, people whose 2017 plan was discontinued, and people who live in or moved from counties affected by this year’s major hurricanes.

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.

Many navigator organizations responsible for helping consumers understand and sign up for health coverage in 2018 Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplaces say steep federal funding reductions that recently took effect will likely force them to limit their geographic service area, cut back outreach and public education, lay off staff members,…

This data note analyzes federal funding changes for Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace navigators in 2017 and discusses the implications for both the navigators and consumers. It presents results of a Kaiser Family Foundation online survey of federal marketplace (FFM) navigator programs and includes insights from a roundtable meeting of more than 40 navigators co-hosted by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Kaiser Family Foundation.