Texas among top states for health care sign-ups on federal exchange
- Feb 19, 2015
- 3 min read
The Affordable Care Act passed a milestone in Texas this week.
With open enrollment ending on Sunday, more than 1 million Texans have signed up on the federal healthcare exchange this season, making Texas second only to Florida in the number of sign-ups among 37 states on the federal marketplace, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Open enrollment started on Nov. 15.
“People are very excited about going over the million mark,” said Melissa McChesney, outreach coordinator for the Center for Public Policy Priorities, an advocacy group in Austin.
Nationally, 7.75 million had enrolled on the federal exchange as of last week, HHS reported. Including state exchanges, enrollment has passed 10 million.
The Dallas-Fort Worth area ranked third among metro areas for enrollment on the federal marketplace behind Miami and Atlanta, with close to 300,000 enrolling here. Houston was fourth with 269,000.
Of those enrolled nationally, 87 percent received a tax credit to offset the cost, HHS said. Nearly 8 in 10 got coverage for $100 or less after the tax credit.
Tim McKinney, president of United Way of Tarrant County, said a faster and easier-to-navigate website at HealthCare.gov, as well as automatic enrollment for those who signed up a year ago, played big parts in the growing numbers. Also, more participation by the insurance industry has helped boost enrollment.
“There’s no doubt about it. The insurance industry was much more aggressive in reaching this population than last year,” he said.
United Way, which received a $4.6 million grant from HHS to hire navigators and work with hundreds of organizations across the state, surpassed its outreach goal of 500,000 by reaching more than 2 million Texans, McKinney said.
“We blew past that outreach goal for sure,” he said. “People are confident that when they look to a navigator they know it’s somebody they can trust.”
As today’s deadline approached — along with the threat of future tax penalties for those uninsured — McKinney and insurance executives reported a surge in enrollment in the past couple of weeks.
“We are absolutely seeing a steady volume into our call centers and enrolling on our website,” said Dr. Robert Morrow, senior medical director at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas, which dominated the marketplace last season with half a million enrollees in its marketplace plans.
In addition to an enhanced website, Blue Cross expanded its call centers in December to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week to handle the volume, Morrow said. Other outreach efforts included using State Farm agents to handle enrollment, having agents at some HEB grocery stores, health fairs around the state and a “Super Sunday” sign-up event in Dallas in January that included 86 churches.
“We’re trying to make the information available in ways most accessible to people,” Morrow said. Blue Cross will release its enrollment numbers when they’re available, he added.
Morrow said among those who enrolled last season and chose Blue Cross, 370,000 saw a doctor for a well visit in the past year.
“That’s a big step,” he said. “As a family doctor, I see having healthcare insurance as a critical step to being healthy, staying healthy or identifying a problem early on. The best way to manage an illness is not to get one.”
In Tarrant County, marketplace consumers could choose from 59 plans offered by six insurers, including newcomers to the exchange Scott & White and UnitedHealthcare.
“We’ve seen a very good response this week and over the last several weeks as the Feb. 15 deadline nears,” said Jeff Hudson, Texas exchange leader for United, in an email.
In addition to partnering with local insurance agents, navigators and community organizations, the insurers also have a toll-free number and website devoted to helping consumers walk through the process of enrollment, Hudson said.
While uninsured individuals who don’t heed this weekend’s open enrollment deadline will pay higher taxes next year ($326 per person, or a tax penalty of 2 percent of income for not having insurance this year), there are ways to enroll as the year goes on, Morrow said.
“Life events” that will allow you to enroll after the deadline include getting married; having or adopting a child; losing job-based coverage; moving outside your coverage area; gaining citizenship; or no longer being covered by a family member, such as children who pass age 26. For more information, go to www.healthcare.gov.
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