The Office of the Assistant Secretary of Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) released data on the total number of Qualified Health Plan (QHP) selections by county from November 15, 2014, through February 22, 2015 (i.e., for the duration of the second Marketplace open enrollment period and one week beyond). The data cover 2,598 counties from the 37 states using the HealthCare.gov Marketplace platform.
Highlights from SHADAC’s Analysis of the Data
- Of the the 8.8 million individuals who selected Qualified Health Plans, 2.2 million individuals (25%) reside in just 18 counties.
- Six of these top 18 counties are located in Florida, and four are located in Texas.
- Individuals selecting QHPs in the top 18 counties are
- More likely to be 18 to 25 years old (13.0% vs. 10.0%)
- Less likely to be near-elderly (55 to 64 years old; 20.7% vs. 26.7%)
- More likely to have incomes between 100 percent and 150 percent of the Federal Poverty Level (49% vs. 37%)
- More likely to choose silver plans (72% vs. 69%)
- More likely to have cost-sharing reductions (64% vs. 58%)
- More likely to have advance premium tax credits (88% vs. 86%)
About the Data
The ASPE QHP selection data represent the number of individuals who selected a Marketplace plan from November 15, 2014, through February 22, 2015, after having been determined eligible to enroll in a QHP. The plan selections were tabulated by county according to the home address provided by each Marketplace applicant.
Data are suppressed for counties with 10 or fewer plan selections due to privacy concerns. Our analysis adjusts for this and also adjusts for data categorized as unknown (this occurs for race, age, and income). We excluded race data from our analysis altogether because of the large percentage reported as unknown or missing.