As rising costs for healthcare providers and Americans covered by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) continues, the next two years will be crucial in assessing the programme’s long-term financial health, according to panellists at an event in Washington DC.
Panellists of the Standard & Poor's (S&P) event noted that expanding the pool of participants will be critical.
Currently, the average costs for services for those who buy insurance on either the federal or state exchanges has begun to outstrip the cost under employer provided or group plans.
Glenn Doody, vice president of product management for healthcare indices at S&P Dow Jones Indices, said: "The real question that the market needs to answer is: what's going to happen over the next 12 to 24 months? Will these costs stabilise and get in line with employer costs?"
He explained that expectations are for costs to normalise with the employer-provided market as additional insurance consumers, particularly those who are healthy at the time of enrolment, begin to buy coverage on the exchanges.
