New @wsj piece cites my research in their new editorial "Biden’s Short-Term Thinking: Will the President restrict a useful health insurance option?" https://www.wsj.com/articles/bidens-short-term-thinking-11613086094?mod=opinion_lead_pos4 (1/8)

Many have warned that the expansion of short-term plans would devastate the #ACA individual insurance market—leading to fewer choices and higher premiums. (2/8)

Then Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said that encouraging short-term plans “will send costs soaring for older Americans and those with preexisting conditions and add further chaos to the markets.” (3/8)

I used the variation in state approaches to regulate short-term plans & data on enrollment, insurer participation, and premiums to contrast individual market trends between states that fully permit short-term plans and those that restrict them. (4/8)

Takeaway #1: States that fully permit short-term plan sale and renewal have had better enrollment, insurer participation, and premium trends in their individual markets since 2018 than states that restrict these plans. (5/8)

Takeaway #2: While there has been a decline in individual market enrollment since 2018, the decline was about 2.3 percentage points greater in states that restricted short-term plans. (6/8)

Takeaway #3: The number of insurers offering ACA plans increased by 61% from 2018 to 2021 in states that permit short-term plans. The corresponding increase in states that restrict short-term plans was only 25%. (7/8)

Takeaway #4: While ind market premiums have declined since 2018, the decline has been more than twice as large in states that fully permit short-term plans. In fact the only group where ind market premiums have increased are the five states that prohibit short-term plans. (8/8)