Florida continues to lead the nation in the number of new people enrolling in Obamacare health plans during a special enrollment period that began earlier this year, according to data released Wednesday by the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
In all, 1.5 million people in 36 states that use a federal health insurance exchange enrolled in plans available under the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, between Feb. 15 and June 30. With 413,409 Floridians enrolling, the Sunshine State accounted for 27 percent of the selections made nationwide, the data show.
President Joe Biden signed an executive order in January authorizing a special enrollment period between Feb. 15 and Aug. 15 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to CMS, the average monthly premium for health insurance coverage through the federal marketplace fell 25 percent in April after more generous premium tax subsidies were included in the American Rescue Plan. Biden signed the federal stimulus package into law in March.
According to CMS, 34 percent of the people enrolled in a health plan are paying $10 or less per month, after the tax credits are taken into account.
Meantime, Florida's Medicaid enrollment continued to climb last month, with more than 4.846,412 poor, elderly and disabled people relying on the program as of June 30 to cover the costs of health care, according to data posted by the state Agency for Health Care Administration this week.
June enrollment is up 1 percent from May and the numbers of people enrolled in the program increased by 702,278 since June 30, 2020. It is the 15th consecutive month that enrollment in the program, which is jointly administered by the state and federal government, increased.
Nearly 79 percent of Florida Medicaid patients are enrolled in the mandatory statewide managed medical care program.
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