Subsidies mean most people who went through exchange pay less than $100 a month

By KHI NEWS SERVICE

WASHINGTON — A new report analyzing health plan enrollment through the federal Health Insurance Marketplace shows that most people who signed up — about 70 percent — are paying less than $100 per month for coverage after their advance tax credits are accounted for and nearly half those who enrolled are paying less than $50 per month.

The online marketplace or exchange was launched Oct. 1, 2013, but because of technical difficulties and low public awareness most people who signed up did so in the weeks approaching the March 31 open enrollment deadline.

More than 8 million people nationwide selected plans through the marketplace, according to the report.

Federal subsidies to buy in the marketplace are available to those who don’t have employer-based coverage options and earn between 100 percent and 400 percent of federal poverty guidelines.

Senior officials from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services described the report in a teleconference Tuesday with news reporters. They answered questions on condition they not be identified other than as “senior HHS officials” but never clearly explained why they felt they needed anonymity other than that they wanted to make themselves available to answer questions about the study ahead of its official release to the public early today.

The report did not include information about the coverage costs of people who signed up for plans through the various state-run exchanges. Federal officials said those numbers weren’t yet available from the states. Two of the larger states, California and New York, had their own exchanges. Kansas was among the more than two dozen states that opted to let the federal government operate the marketplace instead of developing their own.

The Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, required that marketplace plans be available in every state, and HHS officials encouraged each state to operate its own. But Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback was among the Republican state leaders who defaulted to the federal marketplace as part of their opposition to the federal health reform law.

Among the report highlights:

The average premium paid after tax credits for the most popular plans — silver level — was $69 per month with a corresponding average monthly tax credit of $276.

“The new tax credits are working as intended,” one of the HHS officials said.

Of those eligible to purchase a marketplace plan, 82 percent lived in a rating area with between three and 11 issuers; 96 percent lived in areas with at least two issuers. Two states, New Hampshire and West Virginia, each had only one issuer. New York had 16 issuers, more than any other state.

The officials said they didn’t know how the numbers might change once information is received from the state-run exchanges.

“We’re analyzing the data as fast as we can get them in,” one said. “Until then we can’t speculate a lot on how it’s going to shake out.”