More than 100,000 people have enrolled in a private health plan since Obamacare’s insurance marketplaces opened on Oct. 1, the federal government announced Wednesday.
But the disparity across states was striking. The 14 states (plus D.C.) that created their own marketplaces accounted for nearly 80,000 of those sign-ups. HealthCare.gov, which serves the other 36 states, totaled less than 27,000.
That means Kentucky, which built its own marketplace, signed up more people (5,586) than Texas (2,991), which relied on HealthCare.gov, even though it has a fraction of the latter’s population. California has enrolled more people (35,364) on its own than the 36 HealthCare.gov states combined.
The feds counted somebody as “enrolled” if they’ve selected a specific health plan, regardless of whether they’ve paid a premium yet or not. According to the federal data, about 850,000 applications have been completed to determine if people qualify for coverage and financial assistance under the health care reform law.
Another 400,000 people have been enrolled in Medicaid in the states that chose to expand the program under Obamacare.
Map by Christopher O’Driscoll
