Assessing Individual Health Insurance Coverage and Utilization Before and After the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

Abstract

The adoption of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) in 2010 with the intent to improve the U.S. health care delivery system by expanding health insurance coverage and controlling health care costs has generated intense debate regarding its implementation. Marketplaces known as insurance exchanges have been established to provide coverage for Americans who otherwise could not get affordable health care benefits. These exchanges have been plagued with financial losses and other challenges leading to several large insurance providers discontinuing participation in the program. There are many possible remedies under consideration to make the program work better. This research seeks to support program evaluation as well as potential modifications to the law by providing baseline data to compare access and costs in states with state-based exchanges compared to states with federal exchanges. The authors perform an analysis by state for the years 2012 and 2013 (pre-PPACA implementation) using data from the Current Population Survey (U.S. Census) as well as de-identified claims data from Inovalon, Inc.