Medicare Advantage markets are highly concentrated, which could harm both patients and doctors, according to a new study.
The American Medical Association takes an annual look at the competition between health insurers across 380 metropolitan statistical areas in the U.S. and includes for the first time this year MA plans, Fierce Healthcare reports. The results do not paint a pretty picture, said AMA, because the MSAs tend to be dominated by one or two insurers.
The Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) measures market concentration to determine competitiveness. A competitive market has an HHI score of 1500 or lower; 1500 to 2500 for moderately competitive; and anything over 2500 is considered highly concentrated, and therefore not very competitive. Seventy-nine percent of MSAs had MA markets with low levels of competition. Read more.
