The marketplaces will improve today’s broken insurance markets for consumers and small businesses. They achieve this by:
· More Choice. Consumers will have a choice of health plans to fit their needs.
· More Competition. The marketplaces will make it easier for consumers to compare plans on the basis of price, quality and benefits. This gives insurance companies incentives to offer better products at lower prices than their competitors.
· More Clout. The marketplaces will give 25 million individuals and small businesses the same purchasing power as big businesses by bringing people and businesses together, lowering costs by spreading the cost of insurance across a larger group of people and allowing insurance companies to reduce prices.
Source: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, www.cms.gov, February 2014.