title: In Second Year Of Marketplaces, New Entrants, ACA 'Co-Ops,' And Medicaid Plans Restrain Average Premium Growth Rates.
abstract: Premiums for health insurance plans offered through the federally facilitated and state-based Marketplaces remained steady or increased only modestly from 2014 to 2015. We used data from the Marketplaces, state insurance departments, and insurer websites to examine patterns of premium pricing and the factors behind these patterns. Our data came from 2,964 unique plans offered in 2014 and 4,153 unique plans offered in 2015 in forty-nine states and the District of Columbia. Using descriptive and multivariate analysis, we found that the addition of a carrier in a rating area lowered average premiums for the two lowest-cost silver plans and the lowest-cost bronze plan by 2.2 percent. When all plans in a rating area were included, an additional carrier was associated with an average decline in premiums of 1.4 percent. Plans in the Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan Program and Medicaid managed care plans had lower premiums and average premium increases than national commercial and Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans. On average, premiums fell by an appreciably larger amount for catastrophic and bronze plans than for gold plans, and premiums for platinum plans increased. This trend of low premium increases overall is unlikely to continue, however, as insurers are faced with mounting medical claims.
authors.affiliation: Jon R. Gabel (Gabel-Jon@NORC.org) is a senior fellow at NORC at the University of Chicago in Bethesda, Maryland.
authors.forename: Jon R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Gabel
authors.affiliation: Heidi Whitmore is a senior scientist in the Health Care Program at NORC at the University of Chicago in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
authors.forename: Heidi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Whitmore
authors.affiliation: Matthew Green is a research analyst in the Health Care Program at NORC at the University of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois.
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Green
authors.affiliation: Sam T. Stromberg is a senior research analyst in the Health Care Program at NORC at the University of Chicago in San Francisco, California.
authors.forename: Sam T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Stromberg
authors.affiliation: Daniel S. Weinstein is a consultant in the Government HealthCare Solutions Program at Navigant Consulting, in Washington, D.C. He was a research assistant at NORC at the University of Chicago in Bethesda when this research was conducted.
authors.forename: Daniel S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Weinstein
authors.affiliation: Rebecca Oran is a research assistant in the Health Care Program at NORC at the University of Chicago in Bethesda.
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Oran
mesh_terms: D054598:Blue Cross Blue Shield Insurance Plans / Q000191:economics; D006801:Humans; D007348:Insurance, Health / Q000191:economics*; D008484:Medicaid / Q000191:economics*; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D058991:Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; D014481:United States
keywords: Cost of Health Care; Health Economics; Health Reform; Insurance Market < Insurance; Managed Competition