Tobacco Surcharges on 2015 Health Insurance Plans Sold in Federally Facilitated Marketplaces: Variations by Age and Geography and Implications for Health Equity - PubMed (original) (raw)

Tobacco Surcharges on 2015 Health Insurance Plans Sold in Federally Facilitated Marketplaces: Variations by Age and Geography and Implications for Health Equity

Alex C Liber et al. Am J Public Health. 2015 Nov.

Abstract

In 2014, few health insurance plans sold in the Affordable Care Act's Federally Facilitated Marketplaces had age-dependent tobacco surcharges, possibly because of a system glitch. The 2015 tobacco surcharges show wide variation, with more plans implementing tobacco surcharges that increase with age. This underscores concerns that older tobacco users will find postsubsidy health insurance premiums difficult to afford. Future monitoring of enrollment will determine whether tobacco surcharges cause adverse selection by dissuading tobacco users, particularly older users, from buying health insurance.

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Figures

FIGURE 1—

FIGURE 1—

Minimum effective tobacco use surcharge (%) in bronze health insurance exchange plans for a 50-year-old person by US county in Federally Facilitated Marketplaces in 2015.

FIGURE 2—

FIGURE 2—

Minimum effective tobacco use surcharge (METUS; %)-by-age in selected states for each representative METUS-by-age pattern and national mean METUS-by-age in 2015. Note. Weighted by number of persons aged 18–64 years in each county.

References

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