Cost Sharing

In this JAMA Health Forum column, Larry Levitt highlights how the Make America Healthy Again agenda aimed at chronic disease does little to address the affordability of health care and that efforts to lower federal spending on health care may worsen the problem, raising out-of-pocket costs for many people with…

The House of Representatives recently passed a budget reconciliation bill that would appropriate funding for cost-sharing reductions that insurers are required to provide to low-income enrollees in the Affordable Care Act marketplace. This policy watch explains what these cost-sharing reductions are, how they relate to federal spending, and what effect appropriating funding might have on premiums and the uninsured rate.

This analysis documents average deductibles for Affordable Care Act Marketplace plans available on Healthcare.gov in 2025 for all metal tiers, including silver plans after cost-sharing reductions are applied, as well as trend data since 2014.

Since 2000, KFF’s Program on Medicaid and the Uninsured has issued regular updates examining changes and trends in the eligibility rules, enrollment and renewal procedures and cost-sharing practices in Medicaid and CHIP. Those reports are compiled here.

This brief focuses on consumers’ understanding of health insurance costs and examines existing federal protections that seek to address barriers to understanding the cost of coverage and care, such as price transparency, self-service price estimator tools, and simplifying cost-sharing designs.

This brief examines a proposed rule that seeks to change how ACA plans would cover gender affirming care services. If finalized the rule could lead insurers to drop coverage or shift costs to individuals and states, making access to gender affirming care more difficult.

In this JAMA Health Forum post, Executive Vice President Larry Levitt recalls the mid-1990s’ public backlash against Health Maintenance Organizations (commonly known as HMOs) – all of which preceded the recent outpouring of health insurance concerns – as well as how consumer protections against coverage restrictions have evolved and fallen short.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently announced the drugs selected for the second round of negotiation for the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program, which was established by the Inflation Reduction Act. These FAQs address several questions related to Medicare’s drug price negotiation program and CMS’s implementation of the program, with a focus on the details that apply for 2027, the second year that negotiated prices will be available under the program.