Research Conducted at Duke University Has Provided New Information about Health and Society (Increasing Insurance Choices In the Affordable Care Act Marketplaces, 2018-21): Health and Medicine – Health and Society

2022 JAN 03 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Health Policy and Law Daily -- A new study on Health and Medicine - Health and Society is now available. According to news originating from Durham, North Carolina, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “The Affordable Care Act (ACA) relies on insurers to offer health plans in the individual health insurance Marketplaces. Since the ACA’s implementation, levels of Marketplace competition have varied, reaching a nadir in 2018.”

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from Duke University, “We examined the characteristics of counties that experienced changes in insurers’ participation in the ACA Marketplaces from 2016 to 2021. Using data from the Kaiser Family Foundation and other sources, we found that 1,968 counties (accounting for 66 percent of the US population younger than age sixty-five) have more insurers in 2021 than in 2018, whereas only twelve counties (comprising 0.4 percent of the US nonelderly population) have fewer insurers. The number of counties with monopolist Marketplace insurers declined from 1,616 in 2018 to 294 in 2021. Recent Marketplace insurer gains were more likely in counties that lost insurers from 2016 to 2018 or had a monopolist insurer in 2018. Increased competition may lead to lower gross premiums in the ACA Marketplaces.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Given the Biden administration’s support for the ACA Marketplaces, it appears likely that the ACA individual health insurance market will be stable and profitable for the next several years.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Increasing Insurance Choices In the Affordable Care Act Marketplaces, 2018-21. Health Affairs, 2021;40(11):1706-1712. Health Affairs can be contacted at: Project Hope, 7500 Old Georgetown Rd, Ste 600, Bethesda, MD 20814-6133, USA.

The news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained from David M. Anderson, Duke University, Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy, Durham, NC 27708, United States.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2020.02058. 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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