Affordable Care Taking the Lead in Florida

Blog Feature: Yesenia Rojas

Florida is now a frontrunner with 17,908 residents signed up for the Affordable Care Act as of Oct. 1 (nationally over 364,000 Americans are on board). In November, a total of 110,000 citizens—almost four times as many as in October—are now insured with the help of the federal online service.

Our state’s participation numbers are playing a vital role:

Applications completed in the Sunshine State (150,142), Applications for coverage (281,517), Number of plans selected (17,908). And according to the U.S. Census, 3.8 million uninsured residents under the age of 65 live in Florida, the second-highest rate in the country only to Texas.

With more and more Americans becoming eligible for coverage (1.9 million just recently), we might see a powerful surge in Affordable Care patients well throughout March 2014 according to Michael Hash, director of HHS’s office of health reform.

The federal online exchange is programmed to handle about 800,000 consumers a day and enrollment data in Florida proves this may very well happen in the near future with the help of education and outreach by the Obama administration.

Although improved practicality made it a more user-friendly system, technicians at healthcare.gov continue to fix other issues that have intervened in the application process. Officials are quickly working to correct these problems and fix them immediately. Since the site was re-launched in Dec. 1, close to 100% of Affordable Care consumers can now transmit information successfully and accurately.

However, although the Congressional Budget Office estimated that nearly 90 percent of citizens enrolled in the exchange would be eligible for financial assistance, fewer qualified for subsidizes than expected. Only 41% enrolled in the plan, got qualified for aide and also managed to pay monthly premiums.

CMS says that it is too early to determine the subsequent rise in enrollment but things could change before mid-2014. 

If you would like to know more about how you can navigate the marketplace in search of health insurance, contact Catalyst Miami today! Our navigators are ready to help you with you needs. Call us today! 305-576-5001