State individual mandate law would lower uninsured by 88,000 and premiums by 10%

A new analysis by the Commonwealth Fund estimates the impact if states passed their own individual mandate laws, similar to Massachusetts’ law that predated the ACA. According to researchers, by 2020 CT could expect our uninsured rate to drop by 34% with 88,000 more state residents having coverage. Most would gain coverage through Medicaid/CHIP (33,000) and nongroup coverage (32,000); another 23,000 would have employer-sponsored coverage. Costs to the state for Medicaid would only rise by 0.5% by 2019 but premiums on the marketplace for a single 40-year old would drop by 10%. The state would collect $61 million in penalties from an estimated 57,000 people and providers’ uncompensated care burden would drop by $170 million. Last session, CT considered a state individual mandate law this session, but it died in committee. However there is interest in revisiting the issue next year.