Data Collection and Use in the New Health Insurance Marketplaces

This brief discusses the new health insurance marketplaces created under the Affordable Care Act and associated structural and process-related regulations that aim to ensure the quality and value of plans sold. To qualify to be sold in these marketplaces, new plans must be certified as a "Qualified Health Plan" (QHP), meet quality accreditation standards, and implement a quality improvement strategy. These steps require the collection of information from insurers, which will result in the disclosure of information about health insurance policies, practices, cost, and quality.