By the Numbers: The National Health Insurance Market in 2020
The year 2020 has been filled with unpredictability amid all the changes ushered in by the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of the pandemic-driven economic crisis and ballooning unemployment, member enrollment has seen significant shifts from commercial health coverage toward managed Medicaid plans, according to AIS’s Directory of Health Plans. Though insurers are required to cover coronavirus testing and many chose to waive out-of-pocket costs for coronavirus treatment, their gross margins soared compared to 2019 as a result of significant drops in elective and routine care utilization.
NOTES: Per AIS’s research methodology, Medicare Advantage membership include lives enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans, dual-eligible special needs plans and CMS’s Financial Alignment Initiative demonstration plans for Medicare-Medicaid dual eligibles.
SOURCES: AIS’s Directory of Health Plans, as of December 2020 and 2019. Managed Markets Insight & Technology, LLC, as of October 2020. “Health Insurer Financial Performance Through September 2020,” Kaiser Family Foundation. Visit https://bit.ly/37GYz3K.
