Health plans offered on the exchange are considerably different than what has been offered on the market, according to an analysis by HealthPocket. The new Affordable Care Act plans have considerably broader benefit coverage than do existing plans in the individual and family health insurance market. They all have coverage for 10 Essential Health Benefits. Additionally, not all Affordable Care Act health plans are available on exchanges. Some of the new health plans will only be offered off-exchange.
For the 36 states that are using some form of the federal health insurance exchange, there were records of 1,483 different Affordable Care Act health plans. This amount translated into an average of 41 health plans per state. In comparison, HealthPocket’s study found the 2013 individual and family health insurance market had 4,208 plans for the same 36 states, averaging 117 plans per state. For more information, visit
www.HealthPocket.com.
