Policy & Regulation

The Affordable Care Act (ACA), signed into law on March 23, 2010, extended health coverage to millions of Americans through Medicaid (in the states participating in Medicaid expansion) and subsidized Marketplace coverage. However, research prior to enactment of the American Rescue Plan suggests many remaining uninsured people are not aware of their coverage options.

Experience during the first six months of the pandemic shows that the risks of Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) beneficiaries contracting COVID-19 and subsequent hospitalization and mortality vary significantly by demographic characteristics, health status, and nursing home residence. There are several factors that indicate significantly elevated risk.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted stark health disparities among Black, Hispanic, Native American, and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander populations in several areas, including infections, hospitalizations, death rates, and vaccination rates.

UPDATE November 18, 2022: Uninsured Tables with 2021 American Community Survey data is now available.State and Local Estimates of the Uninsured Population in the U.S. Using the Census Bureau’s 2019 American Community Survey

This report to Congress analyzed 10 years of data to look at trends in emergency department utilization at the national and state levels. The report analyzes three categories of utilization:

Newly released estimates from the National Health Interview Survey show that 11.1 percent of U.S. residents (or 30.0 million) under age 65 lacked health insurance as of January-June 2020. This number reflects a sharp decline in the number of uninsured Americans since 2010, before implementation of the Affordable Care Act's large coverage expansions.

This report provides welfare dependence indicators through 2017 for most indicators and through 2018 for other indicators, reflecting changes that have taken place since enactment of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) in 1996.

This report provides welfare dependence indicators through 2016 for most indicators and through 2017 for some indicators, reflecting changes that have taken place since enactment of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) in 1996.

Market-based payment policies such as competitive bidding, reference pricing, centers of excellence and tiered provider networks have been implemented both in Medicare and across the private sector, as described in this report required by Executive Order 13890.

This brief discusses two primary approaches for providing employment-related services to Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and public housing program participants to help them meet work-related requirements.