Health Insurance Markets

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RAND's New President, the U.S. Foreign Service, Transportation Equity: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on RAND's next president and CEO, Jason Matheny, insights into Americans' views on diplomacy and diplomats, solutions for transportation equity, and more.

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News Manipulation, the Risk of Civil War, Russia and Ukraine: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on tracking news manipulation during the pandemic, the threat of another civil war, preventing health insurance loss, and more.

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How Insurance Marketplace Regulators Can Help Consumers Enroll in Better Coverage

The Affordable Care Act simplified shopping for health care by creating the individual health insurance marketplaces where plans are categorized into labeled tiers. Consumers rely on these labels when comparing plans. But the labels don't tell consumers everything they need to know.

Petra W. Rasmussen, David M. Anderson

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Options for Designing a Public Option

State and federal policymakers are considering adding state-backed public options to the individual market in an effort to expand health coverage and improve affordability. We analyzed what would happen if public options became available in U.S. health insurance exchanges.

Michael Cohen, Al Bingham, et al.

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RAND's Summer Reading List for Congress

For busy staff, August's respite from back-to-back meetings, hearing preparation, and late votes is hard-earned. The summer recess also provides an opportunity to get ahead of issues that will resurface in the fall. To that end, we have compiled recent RAND research on topics likely to top the congressional agenda come September.

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Addressing Surprise Medical Bills Without Raising the Cost of Health Care

Patients who try to stay within their insurers' networks can be hit with surprise bills when they unknowingly receive care from out-of-network physicians. How much should a physician be paid for providing a service that is critical but rendered without the patient's ready ability to choose an in-network provider?

Erin Lindsey Duffy, Mark W. Friedberg, et al.

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Four Steps That Could Stabilize the Health Insurance Market

Congress will soon discuss options to stabilize the individual market and ensure that all Americans have access to affordable coverage. Policymakers could encourage enrollment, make targeted investments to lower premiums, fund cost-sharing reductions, and enforce the individual mandate.

Christine Eibner @Chrissyeibner

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Repeal-and-Delay Would Make Budget Neutrality for ACA Replacement Difficult

As Congress considers repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, it will need to consider how federal budget scoring can affect the fate of legislation. Depending on the ultimate cost of a replacement, finding enough savings to offset costs while maintaining budget neutrality could make it hard to pass a replacement.

Christine Eibner @Chrissyeibner

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Insuring Younger Adults Through the ACA's Marketplaces: Options to Expand Enrollment

Whether or not the Affordable Care Act is repealed, having young adults participate in the individual health insurance market remains critical to achieving affordable premiums for everyone.

Evan Saltzman, Christine Eibner @Chrissyeibner

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Estimating the Impacts of the Trump and Clinton Health Plans

Donald Trump wants to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Hillary Clinton wants to maintain and modify it. How could each proposal impact coverage, out-of-pocket costs, and the deficit?

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Modifying the ACA's Family Subsidy Rules to Help Ensure Affordability

The ACA encourages workers to retain employer coverage by restricting their eligibility for marketplace subsidies. Modifying the policy could help 700,000 people gain coverage and lower spending for 1.6 million who are insured but face high health care costs under current ACA policy.

Amado Cordova, Sarah A. Nowak, et al.

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What Happens If the ACA's Tax Credits Are Replaced with Premium Support?

As policymakers consider alternatives to reduce the federal government's financial burden from providing subsidies under the ACA, they should consider the consequences for enrollees. Existing premium-support models yield considerable savings for the federal government but could create age and income disparities in coverage.

Evan Saltzman, Christine Eibner @Chrissyeibner

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Insurance Enrollment Holds Steady in Advance of the 2016 Open Enrollment Period

Since September 2013, the number of people with health insurance coverage has increased by 16.6 million. But since the second ACA open enrollment period in February 2015, the number of people with coverage has remained relatively flat. The third open enrollment period began on November 1. Whether the number of uninsured will continue to decline remains an open question.

Katherine Grace Carman, Christine Eibner @Chrissyeibner

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Charging Older Adults Higher Premiums Could Cost Taxpayers

Under the Affordable Care Act, older adults cannot be charged more than three times as much as 21- to 24-year-olds for the same plan. Changing this rule to 5-to-1 may not be a cost-effective way to encourage enrollment among the young and healthy.

Christine Eibner @Chrissyeibner, Evan Saltzman

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The Ramifications of Repealing the Individual Mandate

As part of its goal of near-universal coverage, the Affordable Care Act requires most Americans to obtain insurance or pay a penalty. Repealing that requirement would significantly reduce health insurance enrollment and cause individual market premiums to rise.

Evan Saltzman, Christine Eibner @Chrissyeibner