Clarisa Corber at work at a Topeka, Kan., insurance agency. Corber and her husband — who have three kids, a health plan and $15,000 in medical debt — were profiled in a recent Los Angeles Times investigation into the effects of high-deductible health plans. Nick Krug/Los Angeles Times hide caption
The out-of-pocket expense of mammograms, MRIs and other tests and treatments can be several thousand dollars each year when you have a high-deductible health policy. Lester Lefkowitz/Getty Images hide caption
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., introduced the Medicare for All Act of 2019 on Capitol Hill Wednesday. Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP hide caption
President Trump says Republicans will pass "a great health care package" after the 2020 election. Evan Vucci/AP hide caption
President Trump speaks to reporters as he arrives for a Senate Republican lunch on Capitol Hill on Tuesday. Andrew Harnik/AP hide caption
The Justice Department sent a letter in support of repealing the entirety of the Affordable Care Act. Here, a sign in support of the ACA in April 2017 in New York City. Kevin Hagen/Getty Images hide caption
One health insurance startup charges patients extra for procedures not covered by their basic health plan. The out-of-pocket cost for a tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy might range from $900 to $3,000 extra, while a lumbar spine fusion could range from $5,000 to $10,000. Frederic Cirou/PhotoAlto/Getty Images hide caption
Leah Steimel (center) says she would consider buying insurance through a Medicaid-style plan that the New Mexico Legislature is considering. Her family includes (from left) her husband, Wellington Guzman; their daughter, Amelia; and sons Daniel and Jonathan. Courtesy of Leah Steimel hide caption
Rep. John Dingell was seated next to President Barack Obama when he signed the Affordable Care Act into law at the White House on March 23, 2010. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images hide caption
Republican lawmaker Allen Christensen is pushing a bill in the Utah Senate that would shrink the Medicaid expansion his state's voters approved. "They are not obligated to balance the budget," he argues. "We are." Cory Dinter/KUER hide caption
Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., at an Oakland, Calif., campaign rally this week. Harris says she backs a single-payer health system, but she hasn't yet offered details on how she would finance that plan. Mason Trinca/Getty Images hide caption
Demonstrators outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., in 2014 react to hearing the court's decision on the Hobby Lobby birth control case. Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP hide caption
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a speech Thursday to the new Congress that Democrats want "to lower health care costs and prescription drug prices and protect people with pre-existing medical conditions." Carolyn Kaster/AP hide caption
Though his politics are right of center and he lobbied hard against the Affordable Care Act, Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch also has been key to passing several landmark health laws with bipartisan support. Bloomberg/Getty Images hide caption
Philadelphia demonstrators protested earlier moves by Republicans to repeal the Affordable Care Act last February. If the ACA is indeed axed as unconstitutional, health policy analysts say, millions of people could lose health coverage, and many aspects of Medicare and Medicaid would change dramatically. Bastiaan Slabbers/NurPhoto via Getty Images hide caption
In 2015, demonstrators in Washington, D.C., urged Supreme Court justices to save the Affordable Care Act from a legal challenge. The federal health law survived, but last week U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor ruled it invalid. An appeal of his controversial decision is underway. Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg/Getty Images hide caption
The government has had to reassure Americans that the Friday ruling does not affect this year's open enrollment, including through HealthCare.gov, which ends Saturday. Alex Brandon/AP hide caption
People who earn up to 400 percent of the poverty level (about $48,500 for an individual and $100,400 for a family of four in 2019) are eligible for subsidies of the cost of their marketplace health plans. But many of the 5 million who aren't eligible feel crushed by rising costs. Stuart Kinlough/Ikon Images/Getty Images hide caption
The deadline for signing up for individual health insurance coverage on HealthCare.gov ends Saturday, Dec. 15. Patrick Sison/AP hide caption
The Trump administration said Thursday it wants states to innovate in ways that could produce more lower-cost health insurance options — even if those alternatives do not provide the same level of financial or medical coverage as an ACA plan. Getty Images hide caption
Affordable Care Act navigator Nini Hadwen (right) helped Jorge Hernandez (left) and Marta Aguirre find a plan on the health insurance exchange in Miami in 2013. Today, with fewer navigators, much of that counseling is done by phone instead of in person. Joe Raedle/Getty Images hide caption
More than half of all counties in the 39 states that rely on the federal HealthCare.gov exchange for ACA health insurance are experiencing a 10 percent price decrease, on average, for their cheapest plan for 2019. Patrick Sison/AP hide caption
Matthew Whitaker is pictured at an event in Washington in August. President Trump this month appointed Whitaker as acting attorney general. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images hide caption