More Insurers Lower Premiums
First-year insurer participation in the Health Insurance Marketplaces (HIMs) established by the Affordable Care Act is limited in many areas of the country. There are 3.9 participants, on (population-weighted) average, in the 395 ratings areas spanning the 34 states with federally facilitated market...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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MIT Press
2017
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/110260 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9877-3065 |
| _version_ | 1826211232637517824 |
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| author | Dafny, Leemore Sharon Gruber, Jonathan |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Economics |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Economics Dafny, Leemore Sharon Gruber, Jonathan |
| author_sort | Dafny, Leemore Sharon |
| collection | MIT |
| description | First-year insurer participation in the Health Insurance Marketplaces (HIMs) established by the Affordable Care Act is limited in many areas of the country. There are 3.9 participants, on (population-weighted) average, in the 395 ratings areas spanning the 34 states with federally facilitated marketplaces (FFMs). Using data on the plans offered in the FFMs, together with predicted market shares for HIM participants (estimated using 2011 insurer-state market shares in the individual insurance market), we study the impact of competition on premiums. We exploit variation in ratings-area-level competition induced by UnitedHealthcare's decision not to participate in any of the FFMs. We estimate that the second-lowest-price silver premium (which is directly linked to federal subsidies) would have decreased by 5.4 percent, on average, had UnitedHealthcare participated. If all insurers active in each state's individual insurance market in 2011 had participated in all ratings areas in that state's HIM, we estimate this key premium would be 11.1% lower and 2014 federal subsidies would be reduced by $1.7 billion. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T15:02:40Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/110260 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T15:02:40Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | MIT Press |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1102602022-09-29T12:17:29Z More Insurers Lower Premiums Dafny, Leemore Sharon Gruber, Jonathan Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Economics Dafny, Leemore Sharon Gruber, Jonathan First-year insurer participation in the Health Insurance Marketplaces (HIMs) established by the Affordable Care Act is limited in many areas of the country. There are 3.9 participants, on (population-weighted) average, in the 395 ratings areas spanning the 34 states with federally facilitated marketplaces (FFMs). Using data on the plans offered in the FFMs, together with predicted market shares for HIM participants (estimated using 2011 insurer-state market shares in the individual insurance market), we study the impact of competition on premiums. We exploit variation in ratings-area-level competition induced by UnitedHealthcare's decision not to participate in any of the FFMs. We estimate that the second-lowest-price silver premium (which is directly linked to federal subsidies) would have decreased by 5.4 percent, on average, had UnitedHealthcare participated. If all insurers active in each state's individual insurance market in 2011 had participated in all ratings areas in that state's HIM, we estimate this key premium would be 11.1% lower and 2014 federal subsidies would be reduced by $1.7 billion. 2017-06-26T17:26:52Z 2017-06-26T17:26:52Z 2015-02 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 2332-3493 2332-3507 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/110260 Dafny, Leemore, Jonathan Gruber, and Christopher Ody. “More Insurers Lower Premiums.” American Journal of Health Economics 1, no. 1 (January 2015): 53–81. © 2015 American Society of Health Economists and Massachusetts Institute of Technology https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9877-3065 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/ajhe_a_00003 American Journal of Health Economics Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf MIT Press MIT Press |
| spellingShingle | Dafny, Leemore Sharon Gruber, Jonathan More Insurers Lower Premiums |
| title | More Insurers Lower Premiums |
| title_full | More Insurers Lower Premiums |
| title_fullStr | More Insurers Lower Premiums |
| title_full_unstemmed | More Insurers Lower Premiums |
| title_short | More Insurers Lower Premiums |
| title_sort | more insurers lower premiums |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/110260 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9877-3065 |
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