New Kaiser Tool Calculates By Locality the Share of Potential ACA Federal Marketplace Enrollees That Signed Up for 2014 Plans

About 8 million people signed up for a health plan through the Affordable Care Act’s insurance marketplaces by the end of the 2014 open enrollment period — 28 percent of the potential market, according to Kaiser Family Foundation estimates.

As the ACA’s second open enrollment period gears up, a new tool from the Foundation delves into states to compare on a local level the number of people eligible for a marketplace plan with the share who signed up.

The resource, Mapping Marketplace Enrollment, calculates by local area the percentage of potential ACA marketplace enrollees that signed up for a health plan in a federally-based exchange by mid-April 2014. It also displays the number of potential enrollees and the number of plan signups in 100,000-resident statistical geographical areas associated with a zip code.

A Kaiser analysis of the data shows tremendous variation across the country. Signups totaled 60 percent or more as a share of the potential market in parts of Jackson, Miss., and Miami-Dade and Broward counties in Florida, among other areas. Enrollment was less than 10 percent of the potential market in parts of Texas, Iowa, Ohio, Indiana, Arizona, and Utah. Results varied significantly within states, as well: for example, the signup percentage for areas in Florida ranged from 12 to 89 percent.

The new tool uses data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. Potential enrollees for the marketplaces are people who were uninsured or buying their own insurance before the ACA went into effect, who are not eligible for Medicaid or employer coverage, who are not in the coverage gap, and who are citizens or authorized immigrants.

National marketplace enrollment totaled 6.7 million as of Oct. 15, reflecting people who had not paid their premiums, attrition since the end of the open enrollment period, and new signups during special enrollment periods. The enrollment data by zip code released by the federal government includes only states served by federally-operated marketplaces and reflects plan signups as of the spring 2014 conclusion of the first ACA open enrollment period.

For more Health Reform resources, please visit kff.org.

Filling the need for trusted information on national health issues, the Kaiser Family Foundation is a nonprofit organization based in Menlo Park, California.