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Data Note: 2022 Medical Loss Ratio Rebates
We find that insurers estimate they will issue a total of about $1 billion in Medical Loss Ratio (MLR) rebates this year across all commercial markets under a provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that limits the share of premiums that insurers can keep for administration, marketing, and profits.
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Private Insurers Expect to Pay $1 Billion in Rebates to Consumers This Year for Setting Premiums Too High Relative to Medical Costs
Private insurance companies are expecting to pay out $1 billion in rebates to consumers this fall under an Affordable Care Act provision that requires insurers to spend the bulk of customers’ premium payments on care, a new KFF analysis finds. Rebates are based on insurers’ experiences over the previous three…
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Data Note: 2021 Medical Loss Ratio Rebates
Private insurance companies expect to pay $2.1 billion in rebates to consumers in 2021 due to excessive premiums in recent years.
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Individual Insurance Market Performance in 2019
New data from 2019 suggest that insurers in the individual market remain profitable, even with average premiums falling for the first time since the ACA was implemented. These data indicate that the individual market appears to be stable in 2019, despite the repeal of the individual mandate penalty and the proliferation of loosely-regulated short-term insurance plans.
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Data Note: 2020 Medical Loss Ratio Rebates
Private insurance companies expect to pay a record of $2.7 billion in rebates to consumers in 2020 due to excessive premiums in recent years – nearly double last year’s then-record total.
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Data Note: 2019 Medical Loss Ratio Rebates
We estimate insurers will be issuing a total of at least $1.3 billion in MLR rebates across all markets – exceeding the previous record high of $1.1 billion in 2012, due in part to the record profits insurers made in 2018. The amount varies by market, with insurers reporting at least $743 million in the individual market, $250 million in the small group market, and $284 million in the large group market.
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As Policymakers Debate Medicare-for-All, Analysis Finds the Medicare Advantage, Individual and Group Health Insurance Markets Appear to Be Profitable, Especially Medicare Advantage
Three key private health insurance markets — Medicare Advantage, the individual market and the fully-insured group market — appear to be financially healthy and attractive to insurers, according to a new KFF analysis. The private Medicare Advantage market generates significantly larger gross margins per person than the individual market or…
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Financial Performance of Medicare Advantage, Individual, and Group Health Insurance Markets
Three key private health insurance markets — Medicare Advantage, the individual market and the fully-insured group market — appear to be financially healthy and attractive to insurers. The private Medicare Advantage market generates significantly larger gross margins per person than the individual market or fully-insured market. The future of these markets has become a focus for policymakers amid the debate over Medicare for All.
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Analysis: Individual Market Insurers Experienced Their Best Financial Year under the ACA in 2017, Though Subsequent Political and Policy Changes Complicate the Outlook for Future Years
Insurers in 2017 had their best financial year selling individual market health insurance since the Affordable Care Act began requiring guaranteed access to coverage for people with pre-existing conditions in 2014, though recent political and policy changes create new challenges for insurers trying to succeed in this market, new Kaiser…
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Individual Insurance Market Performance in 2017
This brief examines recently-released annual financial data from 2017 and finds insurers selling individual market plans had their best financially since 2014, when new ACA insurance market rules took effect that guaranteed access to coverage for people with pre-existing conditions. At the same time, recent political and policy changes, including the repeal of the individual mandate penalty as part of tax reform legislation and proposed regulations to expand loosely-regulated short-term insurance plans, cloud plans’ outlook going forward.
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