Heuristics and Heterogeneity in Health Insurance Exchanges: Evidence from the Massachusetts Connector.
نویسندگان
چکیده
Although health insurance exchanges are a growing source of individual coverage, little is known about consumer behavior on these exchanges. While health insurance exchanges are intended to facilitate competition among insurers and make it easier for consumers to access insurance, understanding how consumers choose insurance plans is necessary for the design of these markets. We characterize demand on a health insurance exchange, including the type of plans individuals choose and how they respond to price. Previous work has noted the potential limits to consumer decision making ability in similar environments (Abaluck and Gruber 2011). In a structural model of health plan choice, we consider the role of heterogeneity in preferences and whether consumers rely on simple rules of thumb. We offer a first look at behavior on Massachusetts’ unsubsidized health insurance exchange, the “Connector”, which was created as a result of the 2006 Massachusetts health reform. A forerunner for the 2010 federal health reform, the Massachusetts reform established a state-wide health insurance exchange and an individual mandate to obtain insurance. The exchange offers health insurance to individuals who were not offered insurance by their employer and who do not receive state-subsidized insurance, and accounts for approximately 1% of the 5% reduction in the uninsured following reform (Kolstad and Kowalski 2010). Our data comprises the complete set of choices made by individuals who purchase unsubsidized insurance through the Connector from its start in 2007 through Dec. 2009. We
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ورودعنوان ژورنال:
- The American economic review
دوره 102 3 شماره
صفحات -
تاریخ انتشار 2012