Dive Brief:
- A new report by Milliman concludes that existing health plan market share is a strong predictor of health plan participation in the federal exchanges.
- Researchers found that more than 80 percent of insurers with 50 percent or more of market share are on the federal HIX.
- This nets out for 48 plans available in the federal HIX's 36 individual markets; in contrast, there's only 24 plans in the 34 small business exchange marketplaces.
Dive Insight:
With most large insurers participating in the federal health exchange, it seems that the model is working -- if not the HealthCare.gov site -- to entice these larger insurers. This strongly suggests that as the market settles out, the remaining 20 percent of large insurers will come on board soon enough. The remaining 20 percent are just playing a "wait and see" game, something more than one health plan CEO has suggested. Let's see how things look after the inevitably rough first full year finishes.