Quast Troy
Department of Economics and International Business at Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, Texas, USA.
J Health Care Finance. 2013 Fall;40(1):1-10.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) includes a provision that penalizes insurance companies if their Medical Loss Ratio (MLR) falls below a specified threshold. The MLR is roughly measured as the ratio of health care expenses to premiums paid by enrollees. I investigate whether there is a relationship between MLRs and the quality of care provided by insurance companies.
I employ a ten-year sample of market-level financial data and quality variables for Texas insurers, as well as relevant control variables, in regression analyses that utilize insurer and market fixed effects.
Of the 15 quality measures, only one has a statistically significant relationship with the MLR. For this measure, the relationship is negative.
Although the MLR provision may provide incentives for insurance companies to lower premiums, this sample does not suggest that there is likely to be a beneficial effect on quality.
