Health insurance costs not so bucolic for rural residents
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Rural life offers a quiet existence of rolling hills, peaceful country towns, simplicity and, apparently, higher health insurance premiums for residents.
A researcher at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health studied choice and pricing for individual insurance plans across the U.S., examining changes in the insurer marketplace participation and plan premiums between 2015 and 2019 to assess their market vulnerability and volatility, according to an article posted Monday to the rural news site DailyYonder.com.
The research found that markets with higher volatility and vulnerability have smaller populations and are more rural, and that the areas were more likely to only have one insurer and higher premiums. The cause, according to the researcher, “most likely relates to the lack of competition, both in the insurance market and in the healthcare market,” according to the news site.
“We know that competition brings prices down and there’s quite a bit of evidence speaking to that,” the researchers told DailyYonger.com. “It speaks to the competition in the insurance market, as well as the provider market competition. Often in rural areas, you will have maybe one hospital and very few providers and specialists. And that lack of competition leads to higher prices.”
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