News Releases

New Interactive Map Examines Marketplace Take-Up Rates in Northeast Ohio

A recently published Medicaid enrollment blog by The Center for Health Affairs and The Center for Community Solutions examines Marketplace take-up rates in Northeast Ohio, which ranged from virtually no participation to full enrollment across the region. The blog, which is accompanied by an interactive map allowing for zip-code-by-zip-code analysis of health insurance plan selection in Ohio’s Federally-facilitated Marketplace, illustrates that some communities still need additional assistance accessing health insurance. Marketplace take-up rates – the percentage of eligible residents enrolled in an insurance plan – were higher in Northeast Ohio’s suburban areas and tended to be lower in its inner-city neighborhoods.

Overall, during the last period of open enrollment (Nov. 1, 2015 – Jan. 31, 2016), 249,715 Ohioans purchased a healthcare plan through the exchange, with over 49,000 plan selections in Cuyahoga and its contiguous counties. Of the Ohioans who turned to the Marketplace for their insurance, 80 percent qualified for an average tax credit of $240 per month. Yet, despite plan affordability, there remains a high rate of uninsured among the working poor. In fact, 11.5 percent of the remaining uninsured are earning less than 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL).

The blog also recommends strategies for the next round of open enrollment to bolster outreach and education and ultimately improve Marketplace take-up rates. The interactive map is designed to help guide outreach and enrollment efforts led by community-based assisters and groups like Enroll America to best utilize their limited resources and more effectively target pockets of Marketplace-eligible populations.

For more information about Northeast Ohio’s Marketplace take-up rates, please contact either Loren Anthes, Fellow for the Center for Medicaid Policy at The Center for Community Solutions via email, or Tony Gutowski, manager of government relations at The Center for Health Affairs via email. 

This blog is a collaboration between The Center for Community Solutions and The Center for Health Affairs. The Center for Community Solutions is a nonprofit, non‐partisan think tank, focusing on solutions to health, social and economic issues. Community Solutions identifies community issues, analyzes and explains them, and proposes nonpartisan recommendations to improve health, social, and economic conditions. Established in 1913, it is a United Way agency. For more information: CommunitySolutions.com.

The Center for Health Affairs is a nonprofit hospital trade association representing 36 providers across Northeast Ohio. Celebrating 100 years as the leading voice for hospitals in Northeast Ohio, The Center provides its members with vital services and resources aimed at improving the overall health of the community. For more information, visit neohospitals.org.