A recent report from the Kaiser Family Foundation suggests 17mn of the country’s 29mn ACA shoppers will be eligible for subsidies in 2014.
That’s nearly 60% of healthcare shoppers who stand to moderate their health insurance costs with federally subsidized tax credits.
The report was based on recent population and economic data from the US Census Bureau, and excluded people eligible for the Medicaid program for the poor.
Unsurprisingly, a large bulk of that 17mn lives in states with the highest rates of uninsured residents: California, Texas and Florida.
Texas has the highest rate of uninsured Americans, with 25.7% of the population uninsured. Florida follows in a close second, with 24.8%, and California is the 11th most uninsured state, with 20.2% of its population currently lacking health insurance.
Each state has more than 1mn tax-credit-eligible residents, the Kaiser report said. That’s something California Department of Insurance spokesperson Nancy Kincaid said she hopes will help influence state residents to sign up for coverage through the state exchange.
“The prevailing thought is that the ACA and government healthcare exchanges will help more people get insurance,” Kincaid said. “That is what everyone is hoping for—that people who were unable to afford it will be able to afford it, and that benefits will be richer. No more slimmed down, bare bones policies.”
The surprisingly higher number of Americans eligible for subsidies is particularly helpful for high-risk healthcare shoppers, said Kelly Fristoe, president of the Texas Association of Health Underwriters. It also helps persuade individuals to give the ACA exchanges a chance.
Fristoe mentioned he is frequently finding the same basic level of benefits in ACA compliant plans for $100 to $200 less than a client’s current plan.
“Ninety percent of what I’m doing is signing up people in the [high-risk] pool who were already paying a higher premium—a full, unsubsidized premium,” Fristoe said. “Once you’re used to paying a higher price, paying $100 or less a month, is a no brainer. People are willing to do that.”
States with the fewest number of residents to qualify for subsidies include Vermont, Hawaii, Rhode Island and the District of Columbia, Kaiser found.
