LANSING – A study comparing individual to group health insurance policies in Michigan and several other states found that the average individual policy did not meet basic coverage requirements the 2010 Affordable Care Act will mandate of policies sold through statewide exchanges.
The study, conducted by the University of Chicago and the firm of Towers Watson, looked at health insurance policies in Michigan, California, Utah, Pennsylvania and Florida. The study looked at the aggregate of all the policies in all the states, and did not break down the different policies in each state.
According to the study, most of the individual plans did not provide enough actuarial coverage to be even be marketed by state exchanges beginning in 2014, as the Affordable Care Act requires.
The federal health care law says to be marketed on the exchange the plans have to provide a minimum of coverage.
Individual plans studied in the review averaged no more than 60 percent coverage of health care costs. The federal act requires at least 60 percent coverage to be marketed on an exchange.
In contrast, coverage of group plans was 83 percent, the study said.
The exchanges are mandated by the federal act, and if a state does not create one, the federal government will do so.
Governor Rick Snyder has called for the Legislature to approve legislation allowing for the exchange, but lawmakers have balked so far. They are waiting to see what the U.S. Supreme Court will say about the act in a decision expected by the end of June.
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