Three years of putting together the new federal health-insurance exchange has now become a reality. With this comes the emergence of new trends. One of the biggest areas that was closely analyzed is new entrants in the healthcare marketplace and the plans that they are offering.

Trends of the Exchanges

• There are more than 80 new carriers in the exchange and this has changed the overall outlook of the exchange.
• They are not price leaders, but are priced competitively.
• Premium products with zero net are offered.
• The premium levels may fluctuate considerably within the markets.

Landscape of the Market Changing

One to 17 carriers for each state have entered in the past month, which amounts to around 80 different carriers. They represent around 28 percent of all the carriers on the system and more than15 percent of the products being offered at the time.

Not Price Leaders but Competitively Priced

These new entrants are pricing competitively, but are not price leaders in the market. They are priced to half the amount of their competitors and below the median for other markets. One third of the plans that have newly entered make up 10 percent of the lowest-priced plans being offered.

Varying Premium Levels

There are large variations in the prices that these plans offer in different states. The changes in the prices depends on various costs of care, different thoughts of the risk pool and the network narrowing down to smaller choices.

Premium Products with Zero Net Available

There are around 6 million to 7 million different Americans that could be eligible for premium products at a zero net price. Both plans come in silver or bronze levels. The subsidy might be able to cover some or all of the cost of the insurance plans depending on the size of the family and household income.