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How Insurance Marketplace Regulators Can Help Consumers Enroll in Better Coverage

Aug 2, 2021

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.
Report

How to Prevent Health Insurance Loss During Future Recessions

Nov 12, 2021

The pandemic–related recession and job loss raised concerns that millions of Americans would lose their health insurance. But temporary aid to protect coverage prevented that from happening. Making the enhanced marketplace tax credits in the American Rescue Plan permanent could keep coverage stable in future recessions.

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Journal Article

Trends in Missing Race and Ethnicity Information After Imputation in HealthCare.gov Marketplace Enrollment Data, 2015–2021

More than 30% of HealthCare.gov enrollees do not report race and ethnicity. We used modified Bayesian Improved First Name Surname geocoding imputations to describe enrollment data and assess patterns of missing enrollee race and ethnicity.

Jun 24, 2022
Report

Imputation of Race and Ethnicity in Health Insurance Marketplace Enrollment Data, 2015–2022 Open Enrollment Periods

This report presents the results of imputing race and ethnicity for HealthCare.gov Marketplace enrollees from 2015 through 2022 with an approach that uses surnames, first names, and residential addresses to estimate race and ethnicity.

Jun 23, 2022
Blog

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.

Jun 10, 2022
Report

Expanding Insurance Coverage to Undocumented Immigrants in Connecticut

Removing Connecticut's immigration status requirements for Medicaid and individual market subsidy eligibility would increase health care coverage among certain immigrant populations. At the same time, it would not substantially impact health insurance costs for other Connecticut residents.

Jun 7, 2022
News Release

Private Health Plans During 2020 Paid Hospitals 224 Percent of What Medicare Would Pay

Prices paid to hospitals during 2020 by employers and private insurers for both inpatient and outpatient services averaged 224 percent of what Medicare would have paid, with wide variation in prices among states.

May 17, 2022
Report

Private Health Plans Paid Hospitals 224 Percent of What Medicare Would Pay

During 2020, prices paid to hospitals by employers and private insurers for both inpatient and outpatient services averaged 224 percent of what Medicare would have paid for the same services. Prices among states varied widely.

May 17, 2022
News Release

Expanding State Employee Health Plan to Others May Do More Than Other Options to Expand Insurance Coverage in ...

Among options to increase health insurance coverage in Connecticut, making a version of the state's employee health plan available to small businesses and some other employers would insure the most people at the lowest cost to the state.

Mar 31, 2022
Research Brief

Increasing Subsidies and Expanding Health Insurance Options in Connecticut: Findings Without the Build Back Better Act

The authors estimated the impacts of policy options to increase the affordability of insurance in Connecticut with the assumption that subsidy enhancements enacted under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 would not continue past 2022.

Mar 31, 2022
Report

Expanding Connecticut State Employee Health Plan to Others Could Increase Insurance Coverage More Than Other Options

Creating a version of the Connecticut state employee health plan for small businesses would insure the most people at the lowest cost to the state. This approach holds promise for stabilizing or reducing consumer costs, improving plan generosity, and bringing more people into the market.

Mar 31, 2022
Journal Article

Projected Coverage and Subsidy Impacts If the American Rescue Plan's Marketplace Provisions Sunset in 2023

An estimated 3 million people currently insured in the individual market would lose coverage and become uninsured if the American Rescue Plan's premium tax credit provisions are not extended beyond 2022.

Mar 29, 2022
Blog

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.

Nov 19, 2021
News Release

Boosting Tax Credits and Other Aid Could Prevent Health Insurance Loss During Future Recessions

The federal Affordable Care Act was not robust enough on its own to stave off a large number of people in New York from losing their health coverage during the pandemic-related recession.

Nov 15, 2021
News Release

Republicans May Be Less Likely to Make Use of Federal Subsidies When Buying Individual Health Insurance Policies

Republicans who buy individual health plans may be less likely to shop through marketplaces created under the federal Affordable Care Act, leading them to forgo subsidies provided by the federal government.

Sep 8, 2021
Report

Summary of the Current Status of Health Insurance Enrollment in Connecticut

To help the state of Connecticut better understand current health insurance enrollment to support improvements to affordability, access, and equity, the authors estimate the distributions of health insurance enrollment by age, gender, race, and ethnicity in detailed insurance categories.

Aug 13, 2021
Research Brief

Reducing Hospital Spending: Three Policy Options

RAND researchers have estimated the effects of policy options to reduce hospital prices paid by private health plans, outlining design choices and effectiveness levels for each approach.

Apr 21, 2021
News Release

Setting Hospital Prices Can Achieve Greater Savings Than Increasing Competition or Price Transparency

Among strategies to curb hospital prices among the commercially insured population in the United States, direct price regulations such as setting rates are likely to achieve greater savings than other approaches like increasing competition or improving price transparency.

Feb 18, 2021
Report

Setting U.S. Hospital Prices Could Cut Overall Health Spending by Billions

Price regulations face political obstacles and have been strongly opposed by medical providers. But setting prices for all commercial health care payers could reduce hospital spending by $61.9 billion to $236.6 billion a year if the rates were set at 100 to 150 percent of the amounts paid by Medicare.

Feb 18, 2021
Journal Article

Low Rates of Pediatric Dental Coverage for Families Purchasing Marketplace Insurance Plans

Pediatric dental care is an essential health benefit that the Affordable Care Act requires most private health plans to cover. It is unknown how these different pediatric dental coverage offerings may affect uptake of coverage.

Feb 12, 2021

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