Consumers Could Use More Help Choosing Individual Market Plans, Study Suggests

A survey of people enrolled in Affordable Care Act marketplace plans in California found that 28% had difficulty paying their premiums in 2021, according to a study published last month in Health Affairs. While that is an improvement from 40% in a similar sample of enrollees in 2017, Vicki Fung, Ph.D., the study’s lead author, tells AIS Health that more could be done to help people choose affordable coverage and determine whether they are eligible for cost-sharing subsidies.

Fung notes that health insurers could help people with consumers’ decisions, including coordinating with agents and brokers that insurers work with and steering people who are eligible for generous subsidies toward purchasing a similar plan via the ACA exchange rather than off-marketplace.

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Tim Casey

Tim Casey

Tim has been a reporter and editor for newspapers, websites and magazines for more than 20 years, including 10 years covering health care business topics. He has a deep knowledge of the managed care industry and pharmacy benefit management. He also has experience covering medical conferences and clinical and legislative health care issues. In 2014, the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing selected Tim as one of 15 journalists to participate in a national symposium on the Affordable Care Act. Tim has a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Notre Dame and an M.B.A. from Georgetown University.

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