Exchange shoppers in several states will have plenty of plans to choose from – but consumers in 16 states won't have much choice at all.
Analysts at Avalere Health have created a map illustrating individual public exchange plan competition levels in a report based on HealthCare.gov Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act exchange plan data.
- In 15 states, the exchanges will offer seven or more issuers.
- In 16 states, the exchanges will offer three or fewer issuers.
- In 19 states and the District of Columbia — the market with the exchange program that will cover members of Congress — the exchanges have attracted four to six issuers.
The coverage deserts include some low-population states, such as Alaska, the Dakotas and Wyoming.
They also include some states with notoriously tough regulatory climates, such as New Jersey, and all New England states but Massachusetts.
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Several of the other three coverage deserts are states with a reputation for having a high percentage of residents with serious health problems.
The Avalere analysts also looked at how the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has done at creating competitive marketplaces in the states in which it's in charge of providing exchange services.
A Blue Cross or Blue carrier is offering the "second lowest cost silver plan" in eight of the 13 federally run exchange states with the highest expected exchange enrollment.
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Allison Bell
Allison Bell, a senior reporter at ThinkAdvisor and BenefitsPRO, previously was an associate editor at National Underwriter Life & Health. She has a bachelor's degree in economics from Washington University in St. Louis and a master's degree in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. She can be reached through X at @Think_Allison.
