Commonwealth Fund Study Shows Covered California Consumers Saving and Paying Much Less Than Expected for Quality Coverage

Commonwealth Fund Study Shows Covered California Consumers Saving and Paying Much Less Than Expected for Quality Coverage

This analysis of health plan premium growth in California’s insurance marketplaces, focusing on the policies that consumers actually purchased, finds that the average price paid for plans selected in 2014 was 11.6 percent less than the average price of all plans offered by insurers. Similar differences were observed in 2015 and 2016, suggesting that consumers are choosing to purchase lower-cost plans. Even small increases in plans’ premiums appear to significantly reduce the probability that consumers will select those plans...