Private Insurance

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.

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.

Majorities of Democrats, Independents and Republicans Would Support Allowing People Younger Than Age 65 to Buy into Medicare Half (50%) of the public would say that if fewer people sign up for marketplace plans during this year’s open enrollment, it is mainly due to the Trump Administration, and most Americans…

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.

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.

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.

A new individual mandate penalty calculator from the Kaiser Family Foundation allows consumers to estimate how much they would owe as a tax penalty for lacking health coverage in 2018, and to compare that amount to the cost of the least expensive 2018 Affordable Care Act marketplace plan in their…

The Individual Mandate Penalty Calculator estimates your penalty for going uninsured vs. how much you would pay for health insurance coverage on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplaces.

This brief looks at the extent to which people have enough savings to meet the cost sharing requirements under private health insurance policies, which have risen substantially in recent years.

In this Axios column, Drew Altman discusses a challenge for single payer which has not received much attention – a large share of the American people do not think they would have to change their current health insurance arrangements if there were a Medicare-for-all style single payer plan.