gold star on a sea of metallic gray stars Policymakers should make efforts to ensure that consumers have access to an adequate supply of insurance offerings to be able to choose plans based on quality. (Photo: Shutterstock)

Most consumers who enrolled for coverage on the ACA marketplace in the plan year 2020 had access to medium- or high-quality plans. However, there may be tradeoffs between higher-rated plans and premium costs for marketplace enrollees.

With the development of the ACA Marketplace Quality Rating System, quality ratings ranging from one to five stars now appear alongside listings of plans on HealthCare.gov. The goal is to empower consumers to make better-informed health insurance decisions while also incentivizing improvement of health plan quality through public reporting. These data also allow consumers to assess trade-offs among the breadth of coverage, cost of premiums and quality of marketplace plans.

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