Larry Levitt
@larrylevitt.bsky.social
📤 12911
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Executive Vice President for Health Policy, KFF. Cal Bear.
https://www.kff.org/person/larry-levitt/
reposted by
Larry Levitt
Shannon Schumacher, PhD
about 13 hours ago
Really excited to share our latest survey of immigrants work
@kff.org
. We're able to see how immigrants are faring now amid increased immigration enforcement compared to 2023. Check out our KFF reports below and stories from
@nytimes.com
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Liz Hamel
about 15 hours ago
Our brand new survey of immigrants in partnership with
@nytimes.com
explores immigrants views and experiences under the second Trump administration. It finds increased fear, health and economic challenges amid immigration enforcement, but a remarkable resilience as well
www.kff.org/kff-nytimes-...
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KFF/New York Times 2025 Survey of Immigrants | KFF
KFF/New York Times 2025 Survey of Immigrants The 2025 Survey of Immigrants, a partnership between KFF and The New York Times, takes an in-depth look at the experiences of immigrants during the first y...
https://www.kff.org/kff-nytimes-2025-survey-of-immigrants/
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Drishti Pillai, PhD, MPH
about 15 hours ago
New survey from
@kff.org
and
@nytimes.com
reveals deepening anxiety and fear among immigrants of all statuses amid the Trump administration’s intensified immigration enforcement and restrictive policies
www.kff.org/kff-nytimes-...
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KFF/New York Times 2025 Survey of Immigrants | KFF
KFF/New York Times 2025 Survey of Immigrants The 2025 Survey of Immigrants, a partnership between KFF and The New York Times, takes an in-depth look at the experiences of immigrants during the first y...
https://www.kff.org/kff-nytimes-2025-survey-of-immigrants/
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Leaving aside the issue that people buying insurance would buy it from insurance companies. This sounds like an effort to let people bypass the ACA. Healthy people could buy cheaper insurance that doesn't cover pre-existing conditions, sending the ACA into a premium death spiral.
about 16 hours ago
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Jen Rubin
5 days ago
contrarian.substack.com/p/sticker-sh...
always informative!!
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Sticker Shock: Larry Levitt on the Rising Healthcare Process & A Broken System
"People die sooner without health insurance than they do with insurance."
https://contrarian.substack.com/p/sticker-shock-larry-levitt-on-the
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reposted by
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Toni Bradfield
3 days ago
Please remind those in the back that ACA is “Obamacare”
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The ACA did 3 big things in the insurance market: 1. Guaranteed access irrespective of pre-existing conditions. 2. Required benefits like maternity and mental health, and prohibited lifetime and annual limits. 3. Provided tax credits to help people afford insurance.
3 days ago
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reposted by
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The Contrarian
5 days ago
With the government reopening with only “promises” in place to protect affordable healthcare, millions of Americans are still at risk of losing coverage.
@larrylevitt.bsky.social
explains just how bad things could get.
https://contrarian.substack.com/p/sticker-shock-larry-levitt-on-the
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Sticker Shock: Larry Levitt on the Rising Healthcare Process & A Broken System
"People die sooner without health insurance than they do with insurance."
https://contrarian.substack.com/p/sticker-shock-larry-levitt-on-the
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As President Trump and Republicans in Congress promise further details of their health care proposals, remember that all health reform plans have trade-offs. As details get filled in, the winners and losers become clearer.
6 days ago
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A bipartisan deal on ACA premium tax credits is far from certain. If it happens, it will mean threading a very thin needle.
@citizencohn.bsky.social
www.thebulwark.com/p/here-is-ho...
7 days ago
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Well-meaning negotiators on both sides of the aisle could likely agree to tweaks to ACA premium tax credits. But, trying to upend the structure during open enrollment with out-of-pocket premiums poised to more than double is like trying to retrofit a plane mid flight.
7 days ago
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KFF's estimate that out-of-pocket ACA premiums will increase if enhanced tax credits expire by an average of 114% has been widely reported. But, it varies a lot, especially by income. Here's what increases look like in dollar terms -- from $378 at $18,000 to $1,836 at $45,000.
8 days ago
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A flexible spending account that replaces enhanced ACA premium tax credits would help people with their out-of-pocket health care costs. But, that help would be limited if they couldn't afford to buy insurance to begin with without the enhanced tax credits.
8 days ago
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77% of ACA enrollees live in states won by President Trump in 2024, and 56% of enrollees are in Congressional districts represented by Republicans. Yet, no Republicans voted for the original ACA in 2010 or the enhanced premium tax credits in 2021. The ACA is still very partisan.
8 days ago
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If enhanced ACA tax credits are not extended, out-of-pocket premiums will increase an average of 114% next year. Who will get blamed? Republicans, who do not support an extension. Democrats. Insurers. The ACA itself.
9 days ago
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You have to read between the lines here to imagine what President Trump is proposing. But, it sounds like it may be a plan for health accounts that could be used for insurance that doesn’t cover pre-existing conditions, which could create a death spiral in ACA plans that do.
11 days ago
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Insurance companies profit from ACA premium tax credits because they lower the out-of-pocket premiums for millions of people who would otherwise be uninsured. The tax credits subsidize people, not insurers.
11 days ago
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reposted by
Larry Levitt
KFF
12 days ago
KFF’s
@larrylevitt.bsky.social
explains the details around the ACA enhanced premium tax credits set to expire at the end of the year. “There would be some ripple effects in the rest of the economy, the rest of the healthcare system,” he says on
@economist.com
’s “Checks and Balance” podcast.
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Medicare and Medicaid coverage of GLP-1s for obesity, and price reductions for cash paying patients, are significant developments. But, deals like this without regulation to back them up may not be lasting.
12 days ago
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Dr. Avenel Joseph
13 days ago
Thank you for clarifying this, Larry - 30% versus 114% increase is a huge difference that people need to know about.
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Something I think gets lost in the debate over ACA enhanced premium tax credits: 65% of ACA marketplace enrollees have incomes under 200% of the poverty level ($31,300 for a single person). These are folks who make too much for Medicaid but don't have access to employer coverage.
13 days ago
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We are KFF. Just K-F-F. We do policy research, polling, and journalism. Different things, but all with the aim of informing health policy debates.
@drewaltman.bsky.social
www.kff.org/from-drew-al...
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Making KFF Less Mysterious Again
In one of his occasional columns about “us,” President and CEO, Dr. Drew Altman, addresses how KFF, which combines policy research, polling and journalism in one organization, operates and why we’re c...
https://www.kff.org/from-drew-altman/making-kff-less-mysterious-again/
13 days ago
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There’s a lot of talk about lowering premiums. Ways to do that: 1. Subsidize premiums for people who can’t afford them. 2. Reduce health care costs. 3. Limit benefits or increase cost-sharing. 4. Allow healthy people to buy cheaper insurance, increasing costs for sick people.
15 days ago
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I see criticism of the ACA from the right and left that it funnels money to insurers. It does increase coverage, and that benefits insurers, and hospitals. But it's not unique to the ACA. It's also true of Medicare, Medicaid, and employer coverage. It's how our system works.
16 days ago
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reposted by
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Erica Schultz-Opinions are my own
17 days ago
If hubs and I want to keep our current coverage, it'll be $800 more a month. The cheapest plan in the same "tier" is LESS coverage and will STILL be $300 more a month.
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ACA open enrollment has begun, which means people are starting to make decisions about their coverage based on out-of-pocket premiums that are double on average what they would be if enhanced tax credits were extended.
17 days ago
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November 1: All Saints' Day, Day of the Dead, and the start of ACA open enrollment, when people start realizing that their out-of-pocket premiums are increasing an average of 114% due to expiration of enhanced tax credits.
18 days ago
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A lot of people are curious why insurers are increasing benchmark ACA premiums by an average of 26%. The publicly-available rate justifications from insurance companies typically look something like this. So, it's kind of hard to tell for sure.
20 days ago
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Out-of-pocket premiums for subsidized ACA enrollees will jump by an average of about 114% if enhanced tax credits are not extended. But, it varies a lot from person to person. Our calculator illustrates the change by income, age, family size, and zip code.
www.kff.org/interactive/...
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How Much More Would People Pay in Premiums if the ACA's Enhanced Premium Tax Credits Expire?| KFF
The ACA's enhanced premium tax credits are set to expire at the end of 2025. This calculator estimates how much out-of-pocket premiums would increase for families if Congress does not extend the credi...
https://www.kff.org/interactive/calculator-aca-enhanced-premium-tax-credit/
20 days ago
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I can't imagine a better use of
@axios.com
writing style than this "yes, but" from
@maya-goldman.bsky.social
about the 114% average out-of-pocket premium increase that ACA enrollees will face if enhanced tax credits expire.
www.axios.com/2025/10/30/a...
20 days ago
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There are two different KFF numbers about the ACA out there. Both are accurate, but mean different things. 114%: The average increase in out-of-pocket premiums if enhanced tax credits expire. 26%: The average increase in what insurers are charging for benchmark ACA plans.
20 days ago
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We estimate the average ACA enrollee will see their out-of-pocket premium increase by 114%. But, it will vary a lot based on age, income, family size, and zip code. I'd be interested in what you're seeing if you're an ACA enrollee and log on to the marketplace. Please reply here.
20 days ago
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New: As open enrollment is about to begin, we estimate ACA insurers are raising premiums by an average of 26%. But if enhanced tax credits expire, 22 million enrollees will see their payments increase by way more than that, more than doubling.
www.kff.org/quick-take/a...
21 days ago
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reposted by
Larry Levitt
Adrianna McIntyre
22 days ago
*taps 2017 sign*
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Michael McAuliff
22 days ago
Sen. Mike Rounds a little bit ago: "the Obamacare product itself is fatally flawed. It continues to create a death spiral coming down with regard to the increasing costs. There are people out there, real people, that are going to get hurt because Obamacare is not working."
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It's one thing to criticize Obamacare, as Republicans are now doing. It's another thing to come up with a replacement doesn't raise health care costs for many people. That's what sunk repeal and replace in 2017.
22 days ago
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There’s a lot of confusion about how much ACA premiums are going up and what it means. That will likely continue this week as window shopping is expected to begin in the federal ACA marketplace. I’ll try to clear things up.
23 days ago
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One possible scenario: Republicans do not go along with extending ACA premiums tax credits. Out-of-pocket premiums more than double next year. Democrats campaign on Republicans increasing health care costs. Republicans argue Obamacare is failing and needs to be reformed.
25 days ago
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As the federal ACA marketplace opens for window shopping next week, there will be a lot of focus on insurer premiums and how much they're going up. What most consumer will pay will actually go up much more, unless enhanced premium tax credits are extended.
26 days ago
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As debate goes on about the future of ACA premium tax credits, I wonder how many people realize that the federal government spent $384 billion last year providing a tax subsidy for employer-provided health benefits, with higher income people getting bigger subsidies.
26 days ago
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There's been a lot of focus on our estimate that ACA enrollees will see their out-of-pocket premiums increase by 114% if enhanced tax credits expire. That may be a hard number to grasp. Another way of looking at it: What enrollees pay will go up by $1,016 on average.
www.kff.org/affordable-c...
26 days ago
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KFF's latest employer survey is out. The average cost of a family health insurance policy has climbed to $26,993. Health insurance is wildly expensive because health care in the U.S. is expensive.
www.kff.org/affordable-c...
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Annual Family Premiums for Employer Coverage Rise 6% in 2025, Nearing $27,000, with Workers Paying $6,850 Toward Premiums Out of Their Paychecks | KFF
Family premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance reached an average of $26,993 this year, KFF’s annual benchmark health benefits survey of large and smaller employers finds. On average, workers...
https://www.kff.org/affordable-care-act/annual-family-premiums-for-employer-coverage-rise-6-in-2025-nearing-27000-with-workers-paying-6850-toward-premiums-out-of-their-paychecks/
28 days ago
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reposted by
Larry Levitt
KQED Forum
29 days ago
🎙️ON AIR: We're talking to
@kff.org
's
@larrylevitt.bsky.social
and
@coveredca.bsky.social
's Jessica Altman about what steep health insurance price hikes could mean for Californians. ❓Do you support an extension of subsidies that would make ACA affordable to more people? Why or why not? 📻 Listen:
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What Steep Health Insurance Price Hikes Could Mean for Nearly 2 Million Californians on Covered CA | KQED
With open enrollment beginning in two weeks, we'll talk to experts including the director of Covered California about what’s at stake.
https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101911719/what-steep-health-insurance-price-hikes-could-mean-for-nearly-2-million-californians-on-covered-ca
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Dave Vanness
29 days ago
Very important insight. Note also that it isn't just healthier people that drop out - it's people who don't expect to need health care (which includes a lot of people who actually do -- or will). That's why the health consequences of disenrollment are potentially high.
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When is the point of no return for extending ACA tax credits? They expire 12/31, so that’s a drop dead date. Open enrollment starts November 1. If they’re not extended by then, enrollees may start dropping out. Even if open enrollment is extended, people could be hard to reach.
30 days ago
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The ACA did lead to increased individual health insurance premiums in 2014. That was because insurance before that generally didn’t cover pre-existing conditions or benefits like maternity care, and it had lifetime and annual limits on how much it would pay.
about 1 month ago
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Larry Levitt
Charles GetCovered-ba ✡️
about 1 month ago
This is true. For the ~2 million or so who DON'T currently receive tax credits (plus another 1-2 million or so off-exchange), the weighted average rate increase will "only" be around 24% on average.
acasignups.net/rate_changes...
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A small clarification to some of the talking points out there using KFF data. Premiums won’t increase by 114% for 24 million people if ACA enhanced premium tax credits are allowed to expire. Premiums would more than double ONLY for the 22 million enrollees with tax credits.
about 1 month ago
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An official White House press release announces that an AstaZeneca inhaler will become available at a price discount of 654%.
www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/...
about 1 month ago
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reposted by
Larry Levitt
Adrianna McIntyre
about 1 month ago
Fundamentally the same dynamic as the ESI tax exclusion, which is famously politically untouchable — and which, as a tax expenditure, "costs" taxpayers about 10x the amount that extending enhanced subsidies is projected to cost
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