Individual market appears stable despite lack of mandate penalty

Healthcare DIVE January 8, 2020
Shannon Muchmore

Dive Brief:

Even without the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate penalty, the individual market last year was stable and profitable for payers, according to a new analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Overall enrollment in the individual market fell by a modest 5% and premiums were mostly steady. Medical loss ratios for the third quarter of 2019 were at an average of about 75%, up from 71% the year prior, according to the report.
Claims costs in the first nine months of 2019 grew modestly and average hospital time was slightly lower than in previous years for individual market enrollees, indicating the market did not have disproportionately sicker patients, KFF said.

Dive Insight:

The individual mandate, which became...

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2020-01-08T22:48:28-05:00