About 9 in 10 Louisianians Are Receiving Help with Their Premiums; Average Monthly Premium Is $108
BATON ROUGE — The Affordable Care Act is helping more than 148,000 Louisianians get health insurance, and the average monthly premium for Louisianians who enrolled at HealthCare.gov is $108, according to numbers released yesterday by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
“This is huge news for the people of Louisiana, who are now able to go online, compare health insurance plans and choose the one that’s right for their family,” said Louisiana Democratic Party Chair Karen Carter Peterson. “The Affordable Care Act is living up to the promise of its name because the average premium for a Louisianian is right around $100 a month. Enrollment in Louisiana is up nearly 50 percent compared to 2014, and enrollment is still open through this Sunday.
“Unfortunately, Louisiana Republicans like David Vitter and Bill Cassidy are fighting to take away affordable coverage from nearly 150,000 hard-working Louisianians by repealing the Affordable Care Act. They want to put insurance companies back in charge, let them kick people off their coverage and prevent people with pre-existing conditions from getting affordable health care. In addition, Bobby Jindal is blocking coverage for more than 240,000 Louisianians by refusing federal Medicaid expansion dollars. We’ve already seen one hospital emergency room close because of Jindal’s political ambitions — how many more will we see shutter this year?”
Of the 148,552 Louisianians who got covered as of Jan. 30, 89 percent received an “advance premium tax credit” to help with the cost of their premiums. Last year about 102,000 Louisianians enrolled at HealthCare.gov. The deadline to enroll for health insurance in 2015 on HealthCare.gov is Sunday, Feb. 15.
Read HHS’s complete report here:
http://aspe.hhs.gov/health/reports/2015/MarketPlaceEnrollment/APTC/ib_APTC.pdf
UPDATE: As of Feb. 6, 157,900 Louisianians had enrolled in the Affordable Care Act.
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