Miami-Dade enrolls 400,000 in Obamacare, more county enrollments than 43 states
With special enrollment all but concluded in this year’s Affordable Care Act health insurance sign up period, Miami-Dade County has claimed nearly 400,000 enrollments, more than any county in Florida and 43 entire states, according to federal data.
The state is a record breaker, too, leading nationwide enrollment with 1.6 million sign ups, surpassing expert projections for 2015.
The county breakdown, based on U.S. Department of Health and Human Services ZIP code enrollment numbers through Feb. 22 and analyzed by nonprofit organization Enroll America, provides the first look at the distribution of enrollment throughout Florida’s 67 counties.
According to the data, Miami-Dade County leads the state with 392,231 plan selections, followed by Broward with 221,758 and Palm Beach with 136,612.
Together, the three counties are responsible for more than 750,000 sign ups, or about 47 percent of Florida’s total enrollment. Orange and Hillsborough counties finish off the top five.
Monroe County enrolled another 6,844 consumers.
Milton Vazquez, Florida spokesman for Enroll America, said that from the beginning, the organization’s effort was particularly focused on South Florida because of its high uninsured rate compared to the rest of the state.
“Even knowing that, going in, it was really high, when I first heard that we were projecting 700,000 in these three counties, my mouth was open,” Vazquez said.
Together, South Florida — Miami-Dade, Broward, Monroe and Palm Beach counties — had more plan selections than 47 other entire states. Miami-Dade County alone surpassed enrollment in 43 states.
Cristina Calvillo-Rivera, a campaign outreach manager with the Young Invincibles, a national nonprofit group targeting millenial enrollment, said the game plan in Florida was to partner with and educate groups that could enroll consumers using health counselors who would be trusted in the community and speak the languages that are common, particularly Spanish and Creole.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article18433949.html