Commonwealth report outlines key policy issues for insurance exchanges

The Commonwealth Fund released last week a report on state insurance exchanges that outlines areas of consideration for policymakers as they begin setting up state insurance exchanges.

The report, Health Insurance Exchanges and the Affordable Care Act: Key Policy Issues, describes 13 key areas for policymakers to consider.

“Health insurance exchanges are the centerpiece of the private health insurance reforms of the Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA),” the report states. “If they function as planned, these exchanges will expand health insurance coverage, improve the quality of such coverage and perhaps of health care itself, and reduce costs. Previous attempts at creating health insurance exchanges, however, enjoyed only mixed results.”