Dive Brief:
- Data collected by the McKinsey Center for US Health System Reform indicates that for 2015, almost half of the health plans offered on public exchanges are "narrow network" plans, and that almost a fifth qualify as "ultranarrow networks," which utilize even fewer providers.
- McKinsey only looked at the hospitals included in each network, and deemed a plan to be narrow if only 31% to 70% of the region's hospitals were included. It deemed a plan to be ultranarrow if only 30% or fewer were included.
- The findings suggest narrow plans have overcome the early criticism they faced from providers and patients who considered them similarly restrictive to the former health maintenance organizations of the 90s.
Dive Insight:
Despite the early concerns, narrow networks appear to be thriving.
"There was a lot of trepidation right around the launch of the public exchanges and the narrow networks," Anthem executive Colin Drozdowski told the New York Times. However, "The noise and clamor from the regulators, from employers and employees, has lessened significantly," he said.
The McKinsey research found that more employers are embracing narrow-network plans, rising from 21% in 2008 to 30% today.
In addition, it says these plans have typically remained among the least expensive; 70% of the least expensive plans for 2015 are narrow, and narrow plans saw 2015 rate increases about half those of broader plans.
"The marketplaces were working the way they were intended to work," researcher Sabrina Corlette of Georgetown University's Center on Health Insurance Reforms told the New York Times. "Narrow networks are not going away."