Report: Overhaul will bring new customers, challenges to the insurers

A report released Tuesday by the health care consultant PricewaterhouseCoopers outlines how various changes put in place by the 2010 health law will change the insurance industry.

Reuters: Future U.S. Healthcare Customers Challenge Insurers: Report
U.S. health insurers will face challenges over the next decade as they expand their marketing to individuals who in many cases will be less educated and poorer than their current policyholders, according to a report released on Tuesday. As a result of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, 30 million Americans are expected to gain access to health insurance through regulated exchanges in each state, more plans from employers, and an expansion of the federal Medicaid program for the poor (10/2).

The Associated Press: Health Care Overhaul Seen As Boon To Insurance Industry
The health care overhaul is poised to pour billions of dollars into an insurance industry thirsty for customers, according to health care consultant PwC. The massive federal law aims to cover millions of uninsured people and will take a major step toward that goal in 2014, when the government starts offering tax credits to help many Americans buy coverage through online exchanges. Those exchanges will act as virtual marketplaces for customers to comparison shop for the right coverage (10/2). 

Kaiser Health News: Study: Newly Insured Patients Are Likely To Be Healthy
Good news for insurers: 88 percent of people new to health coverage after the health law fully goes into effect will be in relatively good health.  That means providers won't be overwhelmed, at least initially, says a report out today by PricewaterhouseCoopers (Appleby, 10/2).