Why did state-based health insurance exchanges (HIEs) enroll more people than those that were federally run? One reason of course is the problems with healthcare.gov. However, there may be other reasons as well. A RWJF report finds the following.
This analysis reveals extreme differences in the amount of funding available to states to help consumers enroll in the new marketplaces. Enrollment data to date suggests wide variations in how successful states were in enrolling their eligible populations in private plans, with SBMs [state-based marketplaces] and partnership states, in general, having more success than FFMs [federally facilitated marketplace]. It is still too early to tell how much of this success can be ascribed to the greater levels of consumer assistance available to the SBMs and partnership states as they were launching their marketplaces.
Source:
- Daniel E. Polsky, PhD, MPP, Janet Weiner, MPH, Christopher Colameco, and Nora Becker. Deciphering the Data: State-Based Marketplaces Spent Heavily to Help Enroll Consumers. RWJF In Brief, April 2014.