The ACA (Affordable Care Act) was designed to help businesses and individuals keep up with healthcare and insurance costs and to reduce the ranks of the uninsured. Now that the first open enrollment period is over, it is time to examine the results and determine whether the effort has been successful. On first glance, it would seem to have been so, as more than eight million people enrolled through the various health exchanges. However, millions remain uninsured and doctors, employers, and the industry itself are still struggling to come up with ways to address the serious issue of rising healthcare costs and health insurance premiums in this country.

This report covers the attitudes and behaviors of consumers toward health insurance and their knowledge of the ACA. It explores the type of insurance they own, how they want to get information from their health insurance carriers, and the type of wellness programs they are most aware of and are most interested in utilizing.

For the purposes of this report, Mintel has used the following definitions:

This report includes information on the behavior of respondents aged 18+ who have access to the internet. They may have health insurance purchased on their own or offered through their employer.

This report builds on the analysis presented in Mintel’s Health Insurance – US, July 2013, as well as Health Insurance and Medicare – US, May 2011, Health Insurance and Wellness Programs – US, February 2010, and Health Insurance – US, April 2009.

For the purposes of this report, Mintel commissioned exclusive consumer research through GMI to explore consumer consumption of/attitudes and behaviors toward health insurance. Mintel was responsible for the survey design, data analysis, and reporting. Fieldwork was conducted in April 2014 among a sample of 2,000 adults aged 18+ with access to the internet.

Mintel selects survey respondents so that they are proportionally balanced to the entire US adult population based on the key demographics of gender, age, household income, and region. Mintel also slightly oversamples, relative to the population, respondents that are Hispanic or black to ensure an adequate representation of these groups in our survey results. Please note that our surveys are conducted online and in English only. Hispanics who are not online and/or do not speak English are not included in our survey results.

While race and Hispanic origin are separate demographic characteristics, Mintel often compares them to each other. Please note that the responses for race (white, black, Asian, Native American, or other race) will overlap those that also are Hispanic, because Hispanics can be of any race.

All estimated mail volume data and consumer direct mail marketing creatives are provided by Mintel Comperemedia.

Mintel Comperemedia is a searchable competitive database tracking direct mail, print and online advertising in the US and Canada, as well as email in the US. Comperemedia tracks information across eight sectors: Banking, Credit Card, Investments, Insurance, Mortgage and Loan, Telecom, Travel and Leisure, and Automotive.

For more information, please contact Account Services Management at 1-312-450-6353 or www.mintel.com.

The following is a list of abbreviations used in this report: