Women at Risk: Why Increasing Numbers of Women Are Failing to Get the Health Care They Need and How the Affordable Care Act Will Help

Presents findings from the 2010 Biennial Health Insurance Survey about rates of uninsurance and care delayed due to cost among women, as well as obstacles faced in the individual market. Examines how reform provisions will change their access to coverage

Rite of Passage: Young Adults and the Affordable Care Act of 2010

Provides an annual update on the insurance status of young adults age 19 to 29. Explains provisions in the 2010 healthcare reform that will expand coverage, including allowing children to remain on parents' plans up to age 26 and expanding Medicaid

Realizing Health Reform's Potential: Young Adults and the Affordable Care Act of 2010

Outlines the 2010 healthcare reform provisions that will benefit young adults, including expanded eligibility for dependent coverage and Medicaid, new preexisting condition insurance plans, and premium subsidies. Estimates effects on coverage rates

How the Affordable Care Act Is Helping Young Adults Stay Covered

Based on 2010 Biennial Health Insurance Survey data, examines how provisions to extend eligibility for Medicaid and dependent coverage and create insurance exchanges will affect coverage and access to care among young adults

Young Adult Participation in the Insurance Marketplaces

The participation of young adults in the health insurance marketplaces has received considerable attention. At issue is whether men and women ages 19 to 34—a group uninsured at disproportionately high rates but generally healthier than older adults—will enroll in marketplace health plans at a rate high enough to ensure the marketplaces' success. The conclusion of health insurance actuaries, health plan representatives, researchers, and federal officials invited to participate in a Commonwealth Fund meeting on the topic is that while young adult participation is important for the stability of the marketplaces and 2015 premiums, it was, and will continue to be, one of many factors that affect premiums. There is no single "right" rate of young adult participation that will guarantee success. In fact, health plan actuaries view health status for all age groups as being more important in their pricing decisions

How the Affordable Care Act Has Improved Americans' Ability to Buy Health Insurance on Their Own: Findings from the Commonwealth Fund Biennial Health Insurance Survey, 2016

Issue: Since 2001, long before the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the Commonwealth Fund Biennial Health Insurance Survey has examined health coverage and consumers' experiences buying insurance and using health care. Goals: To examine long-term trends and to make comparisons before and after passage of health reform. Methods: Analysis of the Commonwealth Fund Biennial Health Insurance Survey, 2016. Findings and Conclusions: There have been dramatic improvements in people's ability to buy health plans on their own following the passage of the ACA. For adults with family incomes less than $48,500, uninsured rates dropped about 17 percentage points below their 2010 peak. Lower-income whites, blacks, and Latinos have experienced drops this large, though Latinos are uninsured at higher rates. Among working-age adults who had shopped for plans in the individual market and ACA marketplaces over the prior three years, the percentage who reported it was very difficult to find affordable plans fell by nearly half from 2010, prior to the ACA reforms, to 2016. Coverage gains are helping working-age Americans get the care they need: the number of adults who reported problems getting needed health care and filling prescriptions because of costs fell from a high of 80 million in 2012 to an estimated 63 million in 2016

An Analysis of Leading Congressional Health Care Bills, 2007-2008: Part I, Insurance Coverage

Compares coverage and cost estimates of bills to improve health coverage through private-public approaches, universal public insurance, tax changes, increased coverage for children and the disabled, expanded health savings accounts, and other strategies

Progressive or Regressive? A Second Look at the Tax Exemption for Employer Sponsored Health Insurance Premiums

Examines the argument for capping the exemption of health insurance benefits from income tax and its potential effects on those already at risk of losing their coverage. Estimates the regressive impact by firm size, location, risk group, and income level

Women at Risk: Why Many Women Are Forgoing Needed Health Care

Based on Commonwealth Fund 2007 Biennial Health Insurance Survey data, compares women's rates of uninsurance or underinsurance, sources of coverage, out-of-pocket and premium expenses, access to care, medical debt, and unmet needs, with those of men

Health Care Opinion Leaders' Views on Health Spending and Reform Implementation

Presents survey responses from healthcare experts about support for the reform law's coverage expansion provisions, payment and delivery system reforms, the budget reduction framework that relies in part on Medicare and Medicaid savings, and other issues