Nearly 83,000 people in Kansas have signed up through the health insurance exchange, with about two weeks left in open enrollment.
In Kansas, 82,960 people had signed up for coverage through the federally run exchange as of Jan. 30, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Open enrollment ends Feb. 15. After that date, only people who had some kind of qualifying event, like losing job-based coverage, having a baby or getting divorced will be able to buy insurance through the exchange until the next open enrollment period begins in the fall.
People who don’t buy insurance will have to pay a minimum penalty of $325, though most will have to pay the higher penalty, which is 2 percent of their income. Some people will qualify for exemptions, including those who have incomes of less than 138 percent of the federal poverty line, which would be $33,465 or less for a family of four.
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Nationwide, 9.9 million people have signed up either through the state-run exchanges or the federal one. The statistics include people who were automatically re-enrolled in their current plans, those who chose a new plan and those who hadn’t bought insurance through the exchange.
Thus far, about 80 percent of those who enrolled in Kansas were eligible for financial assistance. Most people who receive assistance get it in the form of tax credits, though some also quality for other forms of cost sharing. HHS estimated about 73 percent of people in Kansas who signed up could get coverage for $100 or less per month, though it wasn’t clear if that included only one person or also applied to family plans.
Date: February 4, 2015