Mike Farrah Associates dives into “Continued Membership Increases for Second Quarter Health Insurance Business” and turns the spotlight on interesting trends such as:
- We’re seeing the biggest growth in Medicaid managed care, but that is about to drop due to end of PHE (Public Health Emergency) when the growth was inflated due to pandemic-era continuous enrollment.
- Medicare Advantage continues to grow.
- The Marketplace now has 20 million people, compared to 30 million in Medicare Advantage. (Few would believe they are that close.)
- And we are seeing a continued slide of fully insured group business moving to Marketplace or Administrative Services Only (ASO). Keep reading for why the small group ASO is still really scary to me.
One reason for the decline in fully insured group insurance is the worrisome trend of “level funded” or partially self-funded health plans for small employers. This is a dangerous trend as some small employers may find themselves unable to continue if a series of high claimants leaves the employer holding the bag for claims they did not expect. Many small employers might be better served via QSEHRA or ICHRA, which leads to….
Another factor in the decrease in traditional group that is tied to the increase in Marketplace numbers is employers choosing QSEHRA and ICHRA as vehicles for employer sponsored coverage. Because the data on enrollment and individual plans via ICHRA and QSEHRA isn’t tracked via federal databases yet, it’s not showing up in the statistics Farrah’s group is reporting.
Check out the full report here: https://www.markfarrah.com/mfa-briefs/continued-membership-increases-for-second-quarter-health-insurance-business/
