Individual marketplaces under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) have
seen premiums stabilize, according to an analysis of 2020 open enrollment data
performed by McKinsey & Co Inc., and experts sayincreased payer
participation and market maturity are related to the increased consistency in
prices.
According to the report, the number of counties with a single
on-exchange carrier dropped 11% year over year to 25% in 2020. And
approximately 9% of consumers could choose only one carrier in 2020, down from
16% in 2019.
The report attributes premium stability to increased carrier
participation in ACA exchanges. According to the report, 27 carriers entered
the individual marketplaces in 2020 and 25 entered in 2019, while only one
carrier left the exchanges during both years.
The report says that increased participation in the exchanges by
regional and local payers is one of the largest factors in both price stability
nationally and improved competition in rural markets"
"This is really important, and I think it speaks to the
health of these markets," says Dan Mendelson, the founder of health care
consultancy Avalere. "The reality is that a regional and local carrier
often knows the population the best, and some of them were reluctant to go into
the exchange markets because they just feared uncertainty, and they feared
adverse selection."
However, Mendelson says that efforts to repeal and undermine the
ACA are the primary culprit for market instability. "The market did not
mature as rapidly as it could have, because it became a political
football," he says.
Kathy Hempstead, a senior health care policy adviser at the
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, says natural market corrections are also a
factor in improved premium stability.
"We're not back to where we were in 2016, and I'm not sure
we ever will be — or even if we should be," Hempstead tells AIS Health.
"But we are seeing a steady return to the market as carriers are seeing
there's an opportunity."
From
Health Plan Weekly
No comments:
Post a Comment