Christine Jordan Sexton
With 1.6 million enrollees Florida is the state with the highest number of consumers buying health coverage through the new insurance markets under the Affordable Care Act, according to statistics released Wednesday.
Most, 93 percent, of the consumers who signed up through the federal exchange were eligible for an average tax credit of $297 per month. Walton County resident Robert Mandler, Jr. is one of the Floridians who obtained health insurance through the exchange.
He said he initially opposed Obamacare and was poised to pay a tax penalty for not having insurance coverage. When his tonsils started bothering him in late 2013, however, Mendler decided to enroll in the program and paid $118 a month in premiums after obtaining a tax credit.
After being seen by doctors in early 2014, Mendler discovered he had cancer. “Without the policy I would have gone bankrupt,” he said.
Fourteen companies were providing coverage through the federal exchange, an increase from the 11 companies offering coverage during the first year of open enrollment. Consumers could choose from an average 42 different plans in each county.
South Florida led the state with 756,137 enrollees from Miami- Dade, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach enrolling through the exchange. Other areas of the state with large enrollment include:
- Kissimmee Sanford, where 192,881 consumers enrolled
- Tampa, St. Petersburg Clearwater, where 174,675 consumers enrolled
- Jacksonville, where 80,256 consumers enrolled and
- North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton where 44,072 consumers enrolled
Florida’s high numbers show the pent-up demand for insurance in the state where roughly one in five people is uninsured. With a 20 percent of its residents uninsured Florida ranks behind Texas and Nevada, only.
The health exchanges provide one avenue for people to obtain coverage under the federal health care law, commonly referred to as Obamacare. Another way to expand access to health care under the federal law is a Medicaid expansion. However, Republican leaders in the Florida House of Representatives have strongly opposed Medicaid expansion, which could cover an additional 1 million low-income Floridians.
Florida hospitals, health advocates and a growing part of the business community have made numerous efforts to pressure key Republicans to expand the program during the legislative session which begins next month, but it again seems like a non-starter. Republican House Speaker Steve Crisafulli says there are no plans to consider Medicaid expansion during the upcoming session. And it is unlikely supporters will get any help from Gov. Rick Scott, who entered politics running ads against the health law. He said it’s not one of his priorities, but won’t stand in the way if the Legislature makes a move.
Nationally, 11.4 million people are enrolled in Obamacare, mostly through the exchange run by the federal government, before the second open enrollment period ended on Sunday. Enrollment increased by 58 percent in the 37 states served by the federal market, such as Florida, compared to a 9 percent increase among state-operated exchanges.
Florida did not establish a state operated exchange under Obamacare. Florida Health Choices–a program established by Sen. Marco Rubio when he was Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives–started selling Obamacare plans in January during.
Florida Health Choices Chief Executive Officer Rose Naff said 66 applications were started but that one in four of the applicants elected to enroll through the federal exchange site, healthcare.gov, instead. Ultimately 56 people were enrolled in Florida Health Choices and $253,170.96 in gross premiums was written during the six week open enrollment period. While Florida Health Choices is selling Obamacare plans it cannot offer access to subsidies.
Nationally, about 11.4 million signed up before the second enrollment period, which ended Sunday. They did so with relative ease compared to the first year’s rollout, which was plagued by technological difficulties. The total number puts the Obama administration ahead of its nationwide target of 9.1 million people enrolled and paying premiums in 2015.
“We often say that this is really a five-year implementation. It takes time to implement something that is complicated and has a lot of moving pieces,” said Kevin Counihan, chief executive officer of healthcare.gov.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that this year there will be 19 million fewer uninsured Americans than if the law had never passed.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report
