Data from the Department of Health and Human Services show that nearly 2.2 million people selected an insurance plan through the federal marketplace or state marketplaces from Oct. 1 to Dec. 28. Young adults account for slightly less than one-fourth of those who signed up — fewer, so far, than the government has said will be needed to make the economics of the new exchanges work.

1. Study:
Allowing
people to stay
in existing insurance
plans unlikely to disrupt
exchanges
By Lena H. Sun
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/h
ealth-science/study-allowing-people-to-stayin-existing-health-plans-unlikely-to-disruptexchanges/2014/01/20/e537f6d4-81fb11e3-bbe5-6a2a3141e3a9_story.html

2. Plans to allow people to keep their individual health insurance
policies, even if they don’t meet the requirements of the health-care
law, are unlikely to threaten the short-term viability of the new health
insurance marketplace, according to a new Rand Corp. study.
The study, released Tuesday, examines the impact of President Obama’s
decision in November to allow consumers to keep their insurance
plans, even if those plans don’t meet the requirements of the Affordable
Care Act.
Obama made the announcement after millions of cancellation notices
were sent to consumers who buy insurance on their own, angering
supporters and critics who accused him of breaking his promise that
people who liked their plans could keep them.

3. While the president’s announcement was aimed at solving a problem that
was threatening his credibility and public faith in the law, it raised a slew of
questions about the impact on the new online exchanges, including
whether enrollment in the marketplace would drop and whether
premiums would increase as a result.
The study predicts that the president’s actions will have only minimal
effect on enrollment and premiums in 2015.
“We figured that enrollment would go down about 4 percent, or about a
half a million, for 2015,” said Evan Saltzman, the study’s lead author and a
project associate at Rand, a nonprofit research organization.

5. But the Rand projections don’t take into account the disastrous rollout of
the error-plagued federal Web site, HealthCare.gov, which significantly
reduced enrollment in October and November.
“That’s a limitation of our study because it doesn’t allow you to model a
Web site that doesn’t work,” Saltzman said. “It’s very hard to credibly do
something like that.”
Two alternative proposals, one sponsored by Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.)
and the other by Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), would be more aggressive
in extending plans that don’t meet the requirements of the health-care
law. But those proposals have stalled.

6. Upton’s bill, which passed the House the day after Obama’s
announcement, would allow anyone — not just current enrollees — to
buy a noncompliant individual plan. Landrieu’s bill would require
insurers to continue to offer noncompliant individual plans indefinitely
but would limit future enrollment in these plans to current
participants.
Rand researchers found that allowing anyone to buy a noncompliant
plan would have a far more detrimental effect, raising premiums as
much as 10 percent and decreasing enrollment by 3.2 million, or 26
percent.

7. Although the proposals may allow millions of Americans to keep their
health-care plans, critics have said the new marketplace would be deprived
of the young and healthy enrollees it needs for premiums to remain
affordable. If not enough young and healthy people sign up on the federal
and state insurance marketplaces that could lead to a cycle of increasing
premiums and decreasing enrollment, or what some call a “death spiral.”
Data from the Department of Health and Human Services show that
nearly 2.2 million people selected an insurance plan through the federal
marketplace or state marketplaces from Oct. 1 to Dec. 28.
Young adults account for slightly less than one-fourth of those who signed
up — fewer, so far, than the government has said will be needed to make
the economics of the new exchanges work.

8. Other Related Sites
•
http://www.westhillinsuranceconsulting.com/
•
https://www.facebook.com/westhillconsultinginsurance
•
https://twitter.com/westhillconsult/
•
http://pages.rediff.com/westhill-healthcare-consulting/1928895