Actuaries provide insight into 2015 health insurance costs

The American Academy of Actuaries recently suggested in a brief that public workers and other Americans may expect numerous changes to their health insurance benefits costs next year due to the Affordable Care Act.

According to the Academy, many of the alterations between 2014 and 2015 health plans will revolve around a few drivers, such as the composition of enrollee risk pools and the ongoing growth in healthcare costs. The Academy noted there may even be changes to employers' benefits packages that may impact premiums through claim costs. In addition, how healthcare providers get paid could also have an effect on health insurance costs, as the healthcare community is starting to move from fee-for-service payment models to pay-for-performance, which is based more on the quality of care rather than the quantity or volume of it.

A blog in Health Affairs suggested that insurers had to base their plans off of assumptions when determining premiums this past year. Many of these assumptions will give way to experience in 2015; however, insurers will still be largely basing their plans off of a small amount of information.

All in all, the Academy concluded that the uncertainty about healthcare costs in 2014 will continue into 2015, but that there are many drivers that will factor into costs next year.