Studies from K.M.M. Ericson and Co-Authors Have Provided New Information about Affordable Care Act (Nudging Leads Consumers In Colorado To Shop But…

Studies from K.M.M. Ericson and Co-Authors Have Provided New Information about Affordable Care Act (Nudging Leads Consumers In Colorado To Shop But Not Switch ACA Marketplace Plans)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Managed Care Weekly Digest -- Fresh data on Affordable Care Act are presented in a new report. According to news reporting from Cambridge, Massachusetts, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, "The Affordable Care Act (ACA) dramatically expanded the use of regulated marketplaces in health insurance, but consumers often fail to shop for plans during open enrollment periods. Typically these consumers are automatically reenrolled in their old plans, which potentially exposes them to unexpected increases in their insurance premiums and cost sharing."

The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research, "We conducted a randomized intervention to encourage enrollees in an ACA Marketplace to shop for plans. We tested the effect of letters and e-mails with personalized information about the savings on insurance premiums that they could realize from switching plans and the effect of generic communications that simply emphasized the possibility of saving. The personalized and generic messages both increased shopping on the Marketplace's website by 23 percent, but neither type of message had a significant effect on plan switching."

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: "These findings show that simple ' nudges' with even generic information can promote shopping in health insurance marketplaces, but whether they can lead to switching remains an open question."

For more information on this research see: Nudging Leads Consumers In Colorado To Shop But Not Switch ACA Marketplace Plans. Health Affairs, 2017;36(2):311-319. Health Affairs can be contacted at: Project Hope, 7500 Old Georgetown Rd, Ste 600, Bethesda, MD 20814-6133, USA (see also Affordable Care Act).

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting A. Sacarny, Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Act Lab J PAL, Cambridge, MA 02142, United States. Additional authors for this research include J. Kingsdale, T. Layton and A. Sacarny.

Keywords for this news article include: Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, North and Central America, Affordable Care Act, Health Insurance.

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