Research Alert: October 1, 2014

Geographic Variation in Plan Uptake in the Federally Facilitated Marketplace

In September 2014, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released data showing that nearly five and a half million individuals had selected an insurance plan in the 36 states where the Federally Facilitated Marketplace was operating.  This brief combines the recently released data on plan selection in the Federally Facilitated Marketplaces with estimates of the population likely to qualify for the marketplace (i.e. "eligibles") to calculate the percent of potential eligible individuals who chose a plan (the "uptake rate"). The brief also contains a heat map that shows variation in uptake rates across the country.

Additional Resources of Interest:

• More information about the North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center