For Many, Few Health-Plan Choices, High Premiums on Online Exchanges

By Timothy W. Martin and Christopher Weaver
The Wall Street Journal, February 12, 2014

Hundreds of thousands of Americans in poorer counties have few choices of health insurers and face high premiums through the online exchanges created by the health-care law, according to an analysis by The Wall Street Journal of offerings in 36 states.

Consumers in 515 counties, spread across 15 states, have only one insurer selling coverage through the online marketplaces, the Journal found. In more than 80% of those counties, the sole insurer is a local Blue Cross & Blue Shield plan. Residents of wealthier, more populated counties in the U.S. receive lower-priced choices than those living in counties with a single insurer.

The price differences reflect the strategy of insurers to pick markets where they believe they can turn a profit—and avoid areas of high unemployment and a concentration of unhealthy residents they deem more risky.

Aetna Inc. and UnitedHealth Group Inc., for instance, have limited their participation in the new health-insurance marketplaces, where consumers shop for coverage, to a much smaller map than their traditional business. They offer coverage in more counties outside of the marketplaces, where plans are sold directly to consumers and federal subsidies aren’t available.

Aetna targeted areas with stable levels of employment and income to attract desirable customers to its marketplace offerings, Chief Executive Mark Bertolini said last fall. “We were very careful to pick the markets” where the insurer could succeed, he said.

Reversing the trend presents a challenge because low-population areas are unlikely to draw more insurers, said Glenn Melnick, a health-care economist at RAND Corp: “I don’t think the health law can overcome those economics.”

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304450904579366950560009742

Comment:

By Don McCanne, M.D.

We’ve always know that insurers market their plans in areas where there is the greatest potential for business success. As USC Health Finance Professor Glen Melnick explains, the Affordable Care Act cannot overcome those economics.

Clearly we have the wrong model for reform. Private insurers respond to business opportunities. Public insurance, such as a single payer national health program, simply enrolls everyone; there are no market decisions to be made.

So is it going to continue to be about private insurance markets, or will it be about patients – all patients? An improved Medicare for all would be about the latter.

For Many, Few Health-Plan Choices, High Premiums on Online Exchanges

By Timothy W. Martin and Christopher Weaver
The Wall Street Journal, February 12, 2014

Hundreds of thousands of Americans in poorer counties have few choices of health insurers and face high premiums through the online exchanges created by the health-care law, according to an analysis by The Wall Street Journal of offerings in 36 states.

Consumers in 515 counties, spread across 15 states, have only one insurer selling coverage through the online marketplaces, the Journal found. In more than 80% of those counties, the sole insurer is a local Blue Cross & Blue Shield plan. Residents of wealthier, more populated counties in the U.S. receive lower-priced choices than those living in counties with a single insurer.

The price differences reflect the strategy of insurers to pick markets where they believe they can turn a profit—and avoid areas of high unemployment and a concentration of unhealthy residents they deem more risky.

Aetna Inc. and UnitedHealth Group Inc., for instance, have limited their participation in the new health-insurance marketplaces, where consumers shop for coverage, to a much smaller map than their traditional business. They offer coverage in more counties outside of the marketplaces, where plans are sold directly to consumers and federal subsidies aren’t available.

Aetna targeted areas with stable levels of employment and income to attract desirable customers to its marketplace offerings, Chief Executive Mark Bertolini said last fall. “We were very careful to pick the markets” where the insurer could succeed, he said.

Reversing the trend presents a challenge because low-population areas are unlikely to draw more insurers, said Glenn Melnick, a health-care economist at RAND Corp: “I don’t think the health law can overcome those economics.”

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1000142405270230445090457936695056…

We’ve always know that insurers market their plans in areas where there is the greatest potential for business success. As USC Health Finance Professor Glen Melnick explains, the Affordable Care Act cannot overcome those economics.

Clearly we have the wrong model for reform. Private insurers respond to business opportunities. Public insurance, such as a single payer national health program, simply enrolls everyone; there are no market decisions to be made.

So is it going to continue to be about private insurance markets, or will it be about patients – all patients? An improved Medicare for all would be about the latter.