Consumers Could Use More Help Choosing Individual Market Plans, Study Suggests

A survey of people enrolled in Affordable Care Act marketplace plans in California found that 28% had difficulty paying their premiums in 2021, according to a study published last month in Health Affairs. While that is an improvement from 40% in a similar sample of enrollees in 2017, Vicki Fung, Ph.D., the study’s lead author, tells AIS Health that more could be done to help people choose affordable coverage and determine whether they are eligible for cost-sharing subsidies. 

Fung notes that health insurers could help people with consumers’ decisions, including coordinating with agents and brokers that insurers work with and steering people who are eligible for generous subsidies toward purchasing a similar plan via the ACA exchange rather than off-marketplace.