Health exchange enrollees in California get $3.2 billion in fed premium subsidies

Peter Lee, executive director of health insurance exchange Covered California./ Reuters

California residents eligible for federal health care reform law premium subsidies received $3.2 billion in subsidies — or an average of $5,200 per covered household — to purchase coverage in the state's health insurance exchange, state officials said.

“The assistance provided through the Affordable Care Act helped brings health coverage within reach for more than a million people, and it changed lives across the state,” Peter Lee, executive director of the exchange — Covered California — said Monday in a statement.

Those subsidies are available to the lower-income uninsured — those making up to 400% of the federal poverty level — which in 2014 was $46,680 for an individual and $95,400 for a family of four.

Enrollees in Covered California paid $1.1 billion toward the coverage, meaning that for every dollar those eligible for federal premium subsidies paid in premiums, the federal government paid another $3, state officials said.

Last year, the California exchange was the largest of the 51 public health insurance exchanges with 1.2 million enrollees. State officials expect enrollment to hit 1.7 million by the time the 2015 open enrollment period ends next month.