Will health plan outreach increase take-up by enrollees that are healthier or sicker?

Why don’t people eligible for health insurance exchange plans (i.e., Obamacare plans) enroll? One reason could be that they value the health insurance benefit at less than the cost. Another reason could be behavioral frictions; informational search costs and psychological frictions are costly and may preclude enrollment even when benefits are more than cost. For…

Trends in Obamacare plans: 2019 edition

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation conducted case study interviews of health insurance exchange marketplace (i.e., Obamacare marketplaces) in 10 states (i.e., California, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Ohio, Virginia, Washington, and West Virginia) to determine trends in the available plans. One general trend was that large commercial insurers were leaving the marketplace. Marketplace participation is…

Obamacare premiums rose 32% in 2018

Between 2017 and 2018, premiums Obamacare health insurance plans plans rose by 32%.  To be more specific, the Urban Institute reports that: The national average increase was 32.0 percent for the lowest-priced silver plans and 19.1 percent for gold plans, but the increases varied by states…State changes in average lowest-priced silver premiums ranged from a 22.5…

Progress on Obamacare Sign-ups

According to the N.Y. Times: Despite the Trump administration’s efforts to scale back the health law, about 300,000 more people have signed up for health insurance in the Affordable Care Act marketplaces in the first weeks of this enrollment period than last year. This is about a 25% increase from last year at this time.  However,…

The Changing US Health Insurance Market

An interesting paper by Graves and Nikpay (2017) look at the evoluation of the health insurance market before and after Obamacare.  The authors find We found that the ACA’s unprecedented coverage changes increased transitions to Medicaid and nongroup coverage among the uninsured, while strengthening the existing employer-sponsored insurance system and improving retention of public coverage.…

The last Obamacare sign up?

Today is the last day to sign up for Obamacare for 2017.  If President Trump has his way, it could be the last day to sign up for Obamacare ever.  In fact, Marketplace reports that Trump administration decided to pull ads promoting last-minute sign-ups, although it reversed that decision shortly after. The media put forth mixed estimates…