New Report: Many State-Run Health Insurance Marketplaces Are Set to Exceed Requirements for Plan Choice, Quality Reporting
<p>Consumers and small businesses in states that have opted to run their own health insurance marketplaces―a central component of the health reform law―will likely have a greater ability to make informed choices regarding their coverage as well as more information about plan quality than what current federal regulations require, a <a href="/publications/fund-reports/2013/jul/implementing-affordable-care-act-key-design-decisions-state">new Commonwealth Fund report</a> finds. </p><p>The report, by researchers from Georgetown University’s Health Policy Institute, looks at the 17 states that, along with the District of Columbia, have elected to run their own health insurance marketplaces, also referred to as exchanges. The marketplaces, which will begin enrolling consumers this October for coverage beginning in January 2014, are designed to remedy the major shortcomings of the current individual and small-business health insurance markets, including high premiums, a lack of choice, and inadequate coverage. </p>
<p>The authors find that nine of the 17 states plan to display data on quality in their marketplaces in 2014, two years earlier than the federal government requires. And in virtually all the states, Small Business Health Options (SHOP) marketplaces will enable companies to offer employees a choice of more than one plan, something not required until 2015. Meanwhile, eight states, along with the District of Columbia, have adopted rules that require or incentivize insurers to participate in the marketplaces. </p>
<p>Visit <a href="/publications/fund-reports/2013/jul/implementing-affordable-care-act-key-design-decisions-state">commonwealthfund.org</a> to read the full report and use our <a href="/Maps-and-Data/State-Exchange-Map.aspx">interactive map</a> providing the latest information on health insurance marketplaces across the U.S. </p>