New Affordable Care Act Study Results from Kaiser Permanente Described (Changes in Premiums of Cancelled Nongroup Plans Under the Affordable Care Act)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Weekly News -- Research findings on Affordable Care Act are discussed in a new report. According to news reporting from Rockville, Maryland, by VerticalNews journalists, research stated, "To examine the effect of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on changes in premiums for subscribers of nongrandfathered, nongroup insurance plans that were 'cancelled.' Study Design: Retrospective multivariate analyses. Changes in annual premiums post ACA were evaluated across subgroups of subscriber and health plan characteristics."

The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from Kaiser Permanente, "Data was derived from databases containing information on premiums, plan benefit, and demographics for subscribers aged 18 to 64 years within Kaiser Permanente of the Mid-Atlantic States. A linear regression model was used to examine the independent association between subscriber and health plan characteristics on the relative change in premiums. In 2013, 4169 nongroup subscribers were enrolled in plans that were cancelled as a result of the ACA. The median pre-ACA premium was $3240 (range = $780-$39,492), which increased by a median of 21.3% (range = -77.4% to 193.6%), or $685 (range = -$27,464 to $8676), post ACA in 2014. Premiums increased more for high-deductible plans (median = 63.7%) than standard-deductible plans (median = 8.4%). Due to shifts in the age curve, premiums decreased for more than half of women aged 18 to 44 years, but increased by 35.2% for women aged 55 to 64 years. Premiums fell by 15.5% for subscribers who did not pass standard medical underwriting due to preexisting conditions. Changes in premiums in the nongroup market post ACA, varied substantially across subgroups, primarily due to differences in the amount of coverage, changes in rating criteria, shifts in the age curve, and anticipated differences in risk selection and composition of the risk pool."

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: "Given the extent of this variation, it would be incorrect to conclude the ACA as being uniformly beneficial or detrimental to subscribers of these cancelled plans."

For more information on this research see: Changes in Premiums of Cancelled Nongroup Plans Under the Affordable Care Act. American Journal of Managed Care, 2016;22(7):E249-E257,28-35. American Journal of Managed Care can be contacted at: Managed Care & Healthcare Communications Llc, 666 Plainsboro Rd, Ste 300, Plainsboro, NJ 08536, USA.

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Permanente Mid Atlantic States, Mid Atlantic Permanente Res Inst, Rockville, MD 20852, United States. Additional authors for this research include J. Chen and B.R. Plemons.

Keywords for this news article include: Rockville, Maryland, United States, North and Central America, Affordable Care Act, Managed Care, Kaiser Permanente.

Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world. Copyright 2016, NewsRx LLC