Findings from National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) Provides New Data on Managed Care (Do Insurers Respond To Active Purchasing? Evidence From the Massachusetts Health Insurance Exchange): Managed Care

2023 JAN 17 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Researchers detail new data in Managed Care. According to news reporting originating in Cambridge, Massachusetts, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “Health insurance markets face continued challenges with high premiums and limited insurer competition. We describe a unique set of ‘active purchasing’ policies used by Massachusetts’ pioneer health insurance exchange to shape the rules of competition and reward lower-price insurers with additional customers.”

The news reporters obtained a quote from the research from the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), “We provide evidence that these policies significantly influenced insurer pricing. Between 2010 and 2013, over 80% of insurer prices were set exactly at or within 1% of pricing thresholds created by active purchasing policies. A key ‘limited choice’ policy was associated with a 16%-20% reduction in average insurance prices relative to comparison markets in 2012-2014.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “Insurers achieved these price cuts partly through cost reductions via narrower provider networks and partly through reduced profit margins.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Do Insurers Respond To Active Purchasing? Evidence From the Massachusetts Health Insurance Exchange. Journal of Risk and Insurance, 2022. Journal of Risk and Insurance can be contacted at: Wiley, 111 River St, Hoboken 07030-5774, NJ, USA. (Wiley-Blackwell - http://www.wiley.com/; Journal of Risk and Insurance - http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1539-6975)

Our news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Mark Shepard, National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), Harvard Kennedy School, Cambridge, MA 02138, United States.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1111/jori.12414. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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