Before the rollout of the ACA in 2013, monthly premiums in New York's individual health insurance market often exceeded $1,000-unaffordable for many. By 2014, a range of new programs and new enrollment resulted in an average individual New York monthly premium of $430.97, along with drops in health plans' expenses on a per member per month basis.
This snapshot report looks closely at the successful steps New York took to improve its individual health insurance market, and the steps that will be necessary to sustain that improvement. These include attending to the stability of the risk pool, expanding coverage to those still uninsured, and especially the continued affordability of premiums.
New Life-and Covered Lives is the third in a series of snapshots highlighting issues related to the ACA as a complement to UHF's annual Big Picture chartbook on health plan operations. The first snapshot report, After the Reinsurance Is Gone, looks at the Transitional Reinsurance Program. A second, The Next Wave, examines the impact of two proposed mergers on New York's insurance market. The fourth, New York's Temporary Premium Subsidies, lays out lessons to be learned from a creative and effective temporary subsidy program. The Big Picture VI, a comprehensive overview of New York's insurance markets, analyzing enrollment and financial data across health plans and lines of business since implementation of the ACA, is available here.
Read the related press release.
Support for the United Hospital Fund's Health Insurance Project is provided by the New York Community Trust.