Majority of Montana Obamacare users qualify for tax credits

Newly released data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services have revealed that the vast majority of Montana Affordable Care Act users are qualifying for tax credits.

The data, broken down by county for the 37 states using the federal marketplace, shows in detail how many total households per county have selected Qualified Health Plans.

Flathead County has 6,371 households that have selected plans through the federal marketplace, third in number of enrollees behind only Gallatin and Missoula counties, which have more than 7,000 each.

Of the 6,371, 5,499 qualify for advanced premium tax credits and 872 don’t, a tax credit rate of about 86 percent.

Some 8.8 million households are included in the national data, which breaks down the numbers by county, then by household income, race, age group and level of plans.

An advanced premium tax credit is a tax credit which can be used immediately (as opposed to end-of-year tax filing) to reduce costs on coverage bought through the Marketplace.

Another cost-saving measure, cost sharing reductions, is available to those whose income falls below a certain level and you choose a Silver level plan. Tribal members can also qualify under these.

In Flathead County, 3,256 of 6,371 households qualified for cost sharing reductions.

The level of plans varied widely in Flathead County: 192 household elected to buy Platinum plans, 369 bought Gold, 3,777 Silver, 1,967 Bronze and just 66 Catastrophic-level plans.

Of the 6,371 plans in the county, 2,760 are new enrollees, 1,931 let their plans automatically renew and 1,680 actively renewed their plans.

Income levels vary as well, with 141 Flathead County households purchasing plans falling under the federal poverty level. The level is defined as $11,770 for individuals and $24,250 for a family of four.

A total of 180 of the plan purchasers earn more than 400 percent of federal poverty level with the other insurance consumers falling somewhere in between.

The vast majority of purchasers are white, with 4,687 identifying themselves as Caucasians. In Flathead County 33 selected Native, 67 Asian, 65 Latino and 59 multiracial. 1,455 were unknown or unspecified. No black or native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander consumers purchased plans in Flathead County.

For age breakdown, the largest group of enrollees was in the 55-64 age range, with 1,992. Children under 17 made up 381 of enrollees and 22 people over 65 were impacted by Marketplace Plans.

Regionally, Lincoln County has 1,055 enrollees, Lake County 1,576, Mineral County, 252, Glacier County 284 and Sanders County 747.