The ACA Marketplaces are designed to make the nongroup market more accessible and affordable (including with federal subsidies) and to ensure the coverage sold meets basic standards. For the ACA to succeed, however, Marketplace plans must enroll a much higher proportion of the adult target populationnonelderly persons with family incomes above the Medicaid eligibility cutoff (138 percent of the federal poverty level) who are currently uninsured or are purchasing nongroup insurance coveragethan the nongroup market has previously attracted. This brief addresses how difficult this goal may prove to be, given the high proportion of people who have had negative experiences with the nongroup market of the pasteven though the ACA includes major provisions to improve consumers knowledge of and ability to select the appropriate plan for themselves and their families.

Continue reading