Fifty percent of adults who are currently uninsured—and targeted for enrollment in the new Health Insurance Marketplaces (Marketplaces)—have no prior experience with the individual insurance market. The data come from the Urban Institute’s Health Reform Monitoring Survey (HRMS) and indicate that negative experiences with the pre-ACA individual insurance market, especially those related to cost and affordability, were common among the current uninsured or people enrolled in a nongroup health plan.
These and other findings are detailed in two new issue briefs illustrating perceptions about the costs of an individual health insurance plan prior to the Affordable Care Act’s implementation, among the population targeted for enrollment in the Marketplaces.
Among the issue briefs findings, researchers note that:
· Nearly two out of three uninsured people (62.6%) targeted for enrollment in the Marketplaces who have considered or tried purchasing an individual health insurance plan in the past cite affordability as the main reason they did not ultimately purchase coverage.
· Forty-five percent of the Marketplace target population – including those currently uninsured and insured – has had negative experiences with nongroup coverage, mostly related to costs.
· Eighty-four percent of uninsured adults in the Marketplace target population say it would be difficult for them to afford nongroup coverage pre-ACA.
“These survey findings show that enrollment efforts directed at potential Marketplace consumers need to stress the affordability of the newly available plans,” said Kathy Hempstead, who leads coverage issues for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. “The data reaffirm the fact that cost is the major reason why people go without health insurance. Outreach efforts need to highlight the availability of reasonably priced plans in the Marketplaces, and the existence of subsidies that help many people purchase plans.”
The HRMS will be conducted quarterly by researchers at the Urban Institute, with funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), the Ford Foundation and the Urban Institute.
