More Michiganders signed up for 2022 health insurance during the federal government's recent open enrollment period for the Healthcare.gov marketplace than any year since 2017, and the estimated number of uninsured people in the state continues to hover just above 5%.
New sign-up figures released Thursday for Affordable Care Act marketplace plans, also known as Obamacare, show that 303,550 Michiganders signed up for health insurance during the 2022 open enrollment period stretching from Nov. 1 to Jan. 15.
That was up nearly 14% from last year's open enrollment numbers, which followed a shorter enrollment period that ended Dec. 15 in 2020, according to a federal report.
Nationwide, a record 14.5 million people signed up for a 2022 marketplace plan during the latest open enrollment.
Policy experts attribute this enrollment surge to temporarily more generous premium and deductible subsidies that came with the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan relief package that President Joe Biden signed last March. This subsidy expansion will expire at the end of the year.
“That was definitely the biggest change and why we saw such high enrollment this year,” said Samantha Iovan, a senior health policy project manager at the Center for Health and Research Transformation at the University of Michigan.
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The expansion made the tax credit subsidies available for higher-income people, and also lowered premiums and deductibles for many of those who were previously eligible for some subsidy.
Before, those with incomes more than 400% of the federal poverty line ($51,520 for individuals, $106,000 for a family of four) were ineligible for any subsidies. This year, those households could receive subsidies and not have to contribute more than 8.5% of their income when buying a "benchmark" Silver plan sold on the marketplace.
"Previously, you consistently would see people who were getting plans that were 20% of their household income," Iovan said. "So that was a big change that made more people eligible for subsidies."
This year, Michigan has the fourth cheapest "benchmark" plan premiums for individual policies, an average of $340 per month for the second-lowest cost Silver plan for a 40-year-old, or $7 cheaper than last year. The average for the U.S. was $438, down $14.
When accounting for subsidies, about 50% of people nationwide were eligible for a Silver plan costing $10 or less per month.