Since submitting my Upshot piece on narrow networks, which appears today, some new work on the topic has published.
In sum, our results suggest that carriers with traditionally broad networks (national and Blues) are trending away from their use of narrow networks in this market; in contrast, carriers with experience in narrow networks (such as Medicaid, provider-based carriers, and some local/regional ones) are maintaining their use of narrow networks in their plan offerings. The data suggest signs that the carriers with a greater commitment to narrow network strategies in this market are those with more experience with these networks and perhaps those with stronger connections to the local markets they serve.
That’s from the same team and Penn’s Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics that has done tons of excellent work on networks among Marketplace plans. Read the rest of their issue brief here.
