Grant: #73778

Grantee Institution: University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences

Principal Investigator: Joseph Thompson, M.D., M.P.H.

Grant Period: September 1, 2016 – February 28, 2017

Budget: $129,620

This project is funded as part of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s solicitation “Policy-Relevant Insurance Studies” (PRIS), which supports studies that evaluate or predict the effects of policies or policy changes related to health insurance coverage. The purpose of this project is to help inform policy decisions in Arkansas and other states about whether and how to move forward with Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act. The researchers will 1) examine the impact of Arkansas’s premium assistance Medicaid expansion on the affordability of premiums for non-Medicaid eligible individuals who purchase private coverage through the state’s health insurance marketplace, and 2) assess the additional amount of subsidies expended by the U.S. Treasury for non-Medicaid eligible individuals in the absence of the premium assistance Medicaid expansion. The researchers will use data from the Arkansas all-payer claims database, among other sources, to examine the actuarial risk in the state’s health insurance marketplace, with and without those enrolled in the state’s Health Care Independence Program, more commonly known as the “private option.” The researchers will then model the impact of this risk on premiums and advanced premium tax credits.