The Sunflower State is located at the geographic center of the 48 contiguous United States. Politically, however, Kansas is far from centrist as one of the most conservative states in the nation. Kansas’s electoral votes in U.S. presidential elections have only ever gone to three Democratic candidates: Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson. Kansas was one of the states that challenged the Affordable Care Act when it was brought before the Supreme Court. The state did not expand Medicaid under ACA guidelines.
Enrollment Through the Years
Kansans can use the federal marketplace to enroll in ACA health plans. Its number of enrollees in the ACA increased from 2015 to 2016 but decreased from 2016 to 2017. Despite the decrease from last year to now, overall the state has seen a very slight increase in enrollment since 2015.
- 96,197 Kansans enrolled in 2015
- 101,555 Kansans enrolled in 2016
- 98,780 Kansans enrolled in 2017
In 2017, there were 31,488 new Kansas enrollees in ACA insurance plans. Re-enrollments from the previous year totaled 67,292. Kansas’s most-enrolled demographic in 2017 was the older adult population, those aged 55-64. While some states expanded their Medicaid programs (the health care program that covers lower-income Americans) in 2016, Kansas was not one of them.
Cost Assistance
Kansas enrollees who choose an ACA health care plan may be eligible for cost assistance. Those customers must earn 100 to 400 percent of the poverty limit set by the federal government. Kansans who earn no more than 250 percent of the federal poverty limit and are enrolled in silver-level health care plans may also be eligible for cost-sharing reductions (CSRs).
Of Kansans enrolled in marketplace plans in 2017, 84 percent received federal subsidies to reduce premium costs. In the same year, 55 percent of Kansans qualified for additional cost-sharing reductions to lower out-of-pocket expenses.
Carrier Participation & Plan Availability
Kansas had three participating insurance carriers in the ACA marketplace in 2017. This is expected to drop to two participating carriers in 2018. In 2017, Kansas carriers offered 1,272 health insurance plans across the state. Plans vary from county to county, meaning not all people in the state will have access to the same number of plans.
