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Consumers, Insurers, and Market Behavior

�� In 1997, an estimated 16 million Americans (7 percent of the population under age sixty-five) were covered all or part of the year by an individual health insurance plan not associated with an employer. This article examines exactly who is in the individual insurance market and how consumers in this market compare with the uninsured and employer-insured populations. Differences between the operation of the individual and group markets are considered, including variations related to the structure of sellers in the market. Finally, state regulation of individual insurance markets is considered, and the article offers a rationale for the different impacts of regulation that have occurred in various states. The article concludes with some thoughts about information that might improve public policy governing private health insurance with particular reference to the individual insurance market.