Report: Health insurance industry looks strong, post-ACA

A new Commonwealth Fund report released this week finds that the health insurance industry remains fiscally strong five years after the passage of the Affordable Care Act, with profits nearly identical to those before implementation of the law (Source: “The health insurance industry looks...well, healthy,” Marketplace, March 26, 2015).

According to the report, “The new federal regulation of health insurers’ medical loss ratios continues to provide substantial consumer benefits in the third year of operation … These consumer gains have not come at the cost of substantially reduced competition or choice among insurers. Although there has been a modest reduction in the number of insurers in the market, this appears to continue a decade-long trend of consolidation.”