Dive Brief:
- Insurance trade group America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) argues that federal officials should create a new coverage tier offering fewer benefits than the current ones available through ACA exchanges.
- Karen Ignagni, president and CEO of the group, suggests that the Obama administration would be able to persuade a greater number of healthy Americans to enroll in exchange plans if a lower tier of coverage offering fewer benefits and cheaper premiums were available.
- Getting healthy consumers to enroll is critical to the success of the ACA marketplaces, researchers say.
Dive Insight:
AHIP has a strong incentive to argue for a lower tier plan, as it's just one more product they can sell to consumers. Also, bringing on healthy patients lowers their overall risk in the ACA marketplace. But would such plans be fair to consumers? Before going any further with AHIP's proposal, policymakers should look carefully at what the results might be if many of the insured are that only in name.