Study: No evidence consolidation will spur health insurance innovation

There is no evidence that insurance market consolidation leads to greater innovation, according to a study by health economists highlighted in the Health Affairs Blog. “Given the history of slow innovation in health insurance, one could argue that a change in insurance markets is necessary to stimulate more,” the study authors write. “To date, there is no evidence that consolidation will be that catalyst.” Their study looked at variation in physician network breadth as a measure of product innovation in the Health Insurance Marketplaces, and found no evidence of greater innovation in more concentrated markets. “The ‘innovation’ of today – ‘limited,’ ‘narrow’ or ‘high-performance’ networks – is actually a variant on the well-worn strategy of ‘selective contracting,’” they note.