Covered California Enrollees Qualify for $2.3B in Subsidies
California residents who enrolled in health coverage through the state health insurance exchange qualified for subsidies worth more than $2 billion, according to a study by the Kaiser Family Foundation, HealthyCal reports (HealthyCal, 3/27).
National Findings
U.S. residents who have signed up for coverage through the Affordable Care Act's insurance exchanges as of March 1 have qualified for nearly $10 billion in federal subsidies designed to help offset premiums.
The report found that about 3.5 million people who qualified for subsidies -- or roughly 83% of those enrolled in an exchange plan -- each received an average of $2,890 (California Healthline, 3/27).
California Findings
The report found that about 88% of consumers who enrolled in plans through Covered California qualified for about $2.3 billion in subsidies.
In addition, the report found that as of March 1, 40% of subsidy-eligible individuals in the state had selected a health plan through the exchange -- double the national average of 20%.
According to the report, if all states had an enrollment period as successful as the top five highest-performing states -- which includes California -- another 3.1 million individuals could have qualified for nearly $8.6 billion in federal tax credits (Gold, "State of Health," Kaiser Health News/KQED, 3/27).
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