Enrollment in Health Insurance Through the Marketplace After Implementation of the Affordable Care Act in Texas

One of the goals of the Affordable Care Act aims to provide affordable health insurance through the health insurance exchange marketplace (the Marketplace). This study explores enrollments in the Marketplace in Texas and in rural vs urban areas in the East, South, and West regions of the state. Data are derived from the US Census Bureau and the Department of Health and Human Services. A total of 92.7% of eligible non-elderly adult Texans (NEATs) had enrolled in Marketplace insurance as of February 2015. Rural residents were less likely than urban residents to use the Marketplace. Most enrollees (85%) had received tax credits, and 58.6% had received cost-sharing reductions. The number of uninsured NEATs was reduced by 710,000 by 2014, which is equivalent to two-thirds of the enrollees in the Marketplace. One-third of the enrollees previously had private or employer-based insurance before enrollment into the Marketplace.