ACA individual insurance market is improving, but still fragile

Modern Healthcare: Despite claims from President Donald Trump and other Congressional Republican leaders that the Affordable Care Act's individual insurance market is in a “death spiral,” that market is actually improving, according to one analysis.

Ratings firm S&P Global looked at the financial performance of 32 Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies that have sold coverage in the individual insurance market since the ACA took effect in 2014.

It found that the medical-loss ratio, which represents the amount of collected premiums spent on medical claims, improved significantly in 2016 for most Blues insurers, which have struggled with the market in the first couple of years. Last year, insurance premiums exceeded medical care costs for the majority of the Blues plans studied.

Read article