California hospital networks are narrower in Marketplace than in commercial plans, but access and quality are similar.
Do insurance plans offered through the Marketplace implemented by the State of California under the Affordable Care Act restrict consumers' access to hospitals relative to plans offered on the commercial market? And are the hospitals included in Marketplace networks of lower quality compared to those included in the commercial plans? To answer these questions, we analyzed differences in hospital networks across similar plan types offered both in the Marketplace and commercially, by region and insurer. We found that the common belief that Marketplace plans have narrower networks than their commercial counterparts appears empirically valid. However, there does not appear to be a substantive difference in geographic access as measured by the percentage of people residing in at least one hospital market area. More surprisingly, depending on the measure of hospital quality employed, the Marketplace plans have networks with comparable or even higher average quality than the networks of their commercial counterparts.
Simon F. Haeder (haeder@wisc.edu) is a doctoral student in the Department of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Simon F
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Haeder
David L. Weimer is the Edwin E. Witte Professor of Political Economy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
David L
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Weimer
Dana B. Mukamel is a professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of California, Irvine.
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Mukamel
D002140:California; D003132:Commerce / Q000191:economics* / Q000458:organization & administration*; D017046:Cost Savings / Q000191:economics*; D062265:Health Insurance Exchanges / Q000191:economics* / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006284:Health Plan Implementation / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000191:economics* / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000191:economics*; D006801:Humans; D058991:Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act / Q000191:economics* / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011787:Quality of Health Care / Q000191:economics* / Q000458:organization & administration*; D013221:State Health Plans / Q000191:economics* / Q000458:organization & administration*
Access To Care; Health Reform; Hospitals; Insurance Market < Insurance; Quality Of Care