Texas, Florida see uptick in Obamacare enrollment

About 4.6 million people signed up for Obamacare through the fifth week of open enrollment, with roughly 923,000 people newly enrolled, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Enrollment is up 20 percent in Texas and 9 percent in Florida compared to this time last year, administration officials told reporters Wednesday evening, crediting increased subsidies from the American Rescue Plan.

These two states also have some of the highest uninsured rates in the country. Texas leads the nation with 17.5 percent of its population uninsured, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Florida ranks fifth, with 12.3 percent of its population uninsured.

Last year, through the fifth week of enrollment, 1,119,200 people in Florida and 621,085 in Texas had signed up. This year, those numbers are up to 1,220,238 in Florida and 747,860 in Texas.

Overall, states that have not expanded Medicaid — which includes Florida and Texas — saw a 9 percent uptick in enrollment, officials said.

Ad dollars: The administration attributes the enrollment gains to new tax credits and its marketing campaign.

The number of consumers who can find coverage for $10 or less per month after tax subsidies nearly doubled from last year, officials said.

The federal government for the first time advertised in languages other than Spanish and English, adding Hindi, Tagalog, Mandarin, Cantonese, Vietnamese and Korean. The administration also quadrupled the number of so-called navigators helping people sign up for coverage and allied with small businesses to help get the word out, officials said.

In Florida and Texas, ads “micro-targeted” communities, officials said.

The Biden administration in February announced a special open enrollment period due to the pandemic. Nearly 3 million people enrolled in coverage during that six-month period.