Challenge
With the passage of national health care reform and the need to develop related regulations, the lessons of Massachusetts reform became important for policymakers to understand. The Massachusetts model had been replicated in many elements of the proposed national reform, so it was an important and timely question to seek to understand the effect of the reform on risk selection and cost. Although Massachusetts reform had been studied extensively from the perspectives of improvement in access to insurance and providers, there had been no actuarial study of the effect on the market, pricing, or profitability of insurance companies. The Commonwealth Fund sought a partner to conduct such a study.
Solution
Atlas and partners Solucia and Georgetown University were tapped to conduct a study of the effect Massachusetts health care reform efforts had on insurance markets and prices.
Result
The findings of the study were used to inform discussions of health care reform in Massachusetts, a state that was closely watched as a bellwether for national health care reform.