New Study: Before ACA, Premiums for Individual Health Plans Rose 10 Percent or More Each Year
<p>Health insurance premiums for people buying coverage on their own grew an average of 10 percent or more a year during the three years before the Affordable Care Act was enacted, according to a new <a href="/publications/issue-briefs/2014/jun/growth-and-variability-health-plan-premiums-individual-insurance">Commonwealth Fund report</a>. The analysis, by Jonathan Gruber of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, uses information collected by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) to look at premium trends for individual plans nationally and in 22 states for which data are available.</p><p>Premium growth from 2008 to 2010 varied widely across states and across plans within states. For example, in 2008, rate increases ranged from 2.8 percent in Iowa to 14.7 percent in Wisconsin.</p>
<p>Although somewhat limited, the data offer the first snapshot of premium growth in the individual insurance market before the health reform law took effect.</p>
<p>"This report provides a baseline for evaluating the effects of the ACA on premium costs and reminds us that before the law, many families buying coverage on their own saw their premiums skyrocket even when their plans didn't adequately cover the care they needed," says Commonwealth Fund President David Blumenthal, M.D.</p>
<p><a href="/publications/issue-briefs/2014/jun/growth-and-variability-health-plan-premiums-individual-insurance">Visit The Commonwealth Fund to read the full report.</a></p>