When it comes to federal health care exchanges, Arizona is No. 1 — for the average number of qualified health plans, that is.
According to a report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services ahead of last week’s roll-out of the health insurance marketplaces, Arizona averages the highest number of qualified plans on its exchange. Turns out, the state’s exchange offers consumers an average of 106 qualified plans from which to choose. That’s double the average of 53 among the 36 states with federally run exchanges.
When it comes to offering plenty of options, Florida is not far behind. The Sunshine State’s exchange offers an average of 102 qualified health plans.
The HHS report also examined the health plan offerings for the biggest city in each of the 36 states. Turns out, Phoenix consumers have even more options from which to choose. The report says Phoenix has an average of 111 qualified plans on its exchange. That’s good enough for Phoenix to boast the second-most qualified plans. It falls behind Miami, whose exchange offers a whopping 137 choices on average.
In addition to the average number, the government report broke out average costs for plans based on the cheapest plan in each category (bronze, silver and gold). Because of its spate of choices, Arizona’s average costs for each category ranked among the lowest in the country.
For example, the lowest bronze plan for a 27-year-old before tax subsidies averages $141 a month. The cheapest silver costs $164 and the cheapest gold averages $187.
Date: Oct 9, 2013