Following the establishment of the ACA’s individual marketplace, insurers, federal and state governments and nonprofit organizations deployed large media campaigns advertising different types of coverage to prospective enrollees. Local and national broadcasting stations aired nearly 1,000 separate insurance ads more than 605,000 times throughout the first six months of the first open enrollment session, according to the study.
To explore the effects these advertisements had on the uninsured rate, study authors analyzed county-level data from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey on uninsured rates and Medicaid enrollment for individuals under age 65 between 2013 and 2014. In addition, they measured the media volume of insurance ads, news broadcasts and political ads concerning the ACA.
Researchers estimated the uninsured population under age 65 decreased by 2.9 percentage points on average between 2013 and 2014 in the counties included in the study. Counties that experienced a 1,000-unit increase in advertisements during the 2013-2014 enrollment period saw a 0.1 percentage point decline in its uninsured rate.
The study also found a strong relationship between state-sponsored ads and declining uninsured rates, particularly influenced by increases in Medicaid enrollment.
Researchers concluded the results demonstrated “strong and stable associations between the volume of insurance advertising and health insurance gains” during the first year of open enrollment. They added “future research should look for opportunities to examine these relationships at the individual level.”
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