17 Million Eligible For HIX Premium Subsidies
By Mary Agnes Carey, Senior Correspondent Kaiser Health News // November 7, 2013
FLORIDA HAS THIRD HIGHEST SUBSIDY ELIGIBLE POPULATION
ABOVE VIDEO: The Kaiser Family Foundation takes you step-by-step through the basic changes in the way Americans will get health coverage and what it will cost starting in 2014, when major parts of the Affordable Care Act go into effect.
EDITOR’S NOTE: According to a recent report by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), which is recognized as “a trusted source of information in a health care world dominated by vested interests,” an estimated 17 million people who are now uninsured or who buy insurance on their own, independent of government or employer provided coverage, will be eligible for premium tax credits in 2014.
The Kaiser Health News article below reports on the KFF analysis that provides national and state estimates for tax credit eligibility for low to moderate income (earning between 100 and 400 percent of the poverty level: between $23,550 and $94,200 annually for a family of four) Americans who buy health insurance on the Obamacare health insurance exchange (HIX) for coverage starting in January of 2014.
Florida is identified as one of the states with the highest subsidy eligible population at 1.6 million. KFF also estimates that “about 29 million people nationally could look to new Marketplaces as a place to purchase coverage.”
Although 17 million may be eligible for tax credits, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that only 7 million people will enroll in exchanges in 2014 and of that number, 6 million will be eligible for the tax subsidies, but also project that the number of people receiving tax credits in exchanges will triple by 2016.
KAISERHEALTHNEWS.ORG–Seventeen million people who are now uninsured or who buy their own health insurance will be eligible for tax credits next year to help purchase coverage on the health law’s online marketplaces or exchanges, according to an analysis released Tuesday.
More than a third of those people live in just three states: California with nearly 2 million, Texas with 2 million and Florida with 1.6 million. These states have the highest numbers of uninsured residents and the largest number eligible for tax credits, the Kaiser Family Foundation reported. (KHN is an editorially independent program of the foundation).
A separate study from the McKinsey Center for U.S. Health System Reform found that across the country, 6 million to 7 million people may be eligible to use their federal subsidy to cover the entire premium of the lowest priced plan on the exchange, called a bronze plan. Premiums for bronze plans are the least expensive, but they require greater out-of-pocket costs, such as co-payments for services.
The Kaiser Family Foundation analysis estimates that 29 million people could potentially purchase coverage on the exchanges. In some states the impact could be substantial. In Alaska, 71 percent would be eligible; in Louisiana, 70 percent. Mississippi and South Carolina are close behind, at 68 percent. In Texas, 65 percent of residents would be eligible.
CLICK HERE to read the full report on KaiserHealthNews.org.
