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HealthCare.gov marketplace enrollment during the 2021 special enrollment period by race and ethnicity
HealthCare.gov marketplace enrollment during the 2021 special enrollment period by race and ethnicity
- Collection:
- Health Policy and Services Research
- Series Title(s):
- ASPE issue brief
- Author(s):
- Branham, D. Keith, author
Finegold, Kenneth, 1957- author
Peters, Christie, author
Sommers, Benjamin D., author - Contributor(s):
- United States. Department of Health and Human Services. Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. Office of Health Policy, issuing body.
- Publication:
- Washington, D.C. : Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Office of Health Policy, March 24, 2022
- Language(s):
- English
- Format:
- Text
- Subject(s):
- Ethnicity -- statistics & numerical data
Health Insurance Exchanges -- statistics & numerical data
Insurance Coverage -- statistics & numerical data
Racial Groups -- statistics & numerical data
United States
United States. - Genre(s):
- Technical Report
- Abstract:
- In response to the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) provided a 2021 Special Enrollment Period (SEP) for consumers in HealthCare.gov states from February 15 to August 15, 2021. The American Rescue Plan (ARP) enhanced and expanded premium tax credits for 2021-2022 coverage, which lowered out-of-pocket premiums for most Marketplace enrollees. Meanwhile, racial and ethnic disparities in health coverage have improved under the Affordable Care Act but still persist, and the 2021 SEP may have helped address these disparities. Understanding the sociodemographic composition of Marketplace enrollees allows for better targeted outreach and enrollment assistance to reduce health coverage disparities by race, ethnicity, and other characteristics. A large proportion of Marketplace enrollees do not report their racial and/or ethnic identity each year. Approximately 50 percent of enrollees in the 2021 Special Enrollment Period (SEP) did not report race and ethnicity information on their enrollment application. Imputation methods estimating race and ethnicity are one way to address this missing information. Using Census information and other methods, we find that consumers who did not report race and ethnicity were more likely to be Black or Latino. Overall, after imputation, we find that the 2021 SEP enrollment was 48 percent White, 28 percent Latino, 16 percent Black, 5 percent Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI), 2 percent Multiracial, and 1 percent American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN). Among most racial and ethnic groups, silver plans were the most common plan choice, which qualifies lower-income consumers for cost sharing reductions (CSRs). The exception was AI/AN enrollees, who can receive CSRs in any metal level plan and more frequently select bronze plans. Latino (56 percent), Black (49 percent), and AANHPI (44 percent) enrollees were more likely to enroll in the most generous silver CSR plans, compared to multiracial (34 percent) and White (30 percent) enrollees.
- Copyright:
- The National Library of Medicine believes this item to be in the public domain. (More information)
- Extent:
- 1 online resource (1 PDF file (12 pages))
- Illustrations:
- Illustrations
- NLM Unique ID:
- 9918539787306676 (See catalog record)
- Permanent Link:
- http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/9918539787306676