Approximately 144,400 people were uninsured in Iowa as of 2019, according to a tally by nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF). That tally represents about 4.7% of the state’s population, one of the lowest uninsured rates in the country.
In a recent report, KFF looked at the uninsured population in Iowa again and found that of those who still lacked health insurance in 2021, around 76,100 people could qualify for marketplace coverage.
Marketplace coverage is comprehensive health insurance. It adheres to the rules of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and offers certain consumer protections. These plans cover 10 essential health benefits along with pre-existing conditions.
They also provide subsidies — advance premium tax credits — for people with low to moderate incomes. Anyone earning 100% to 400% of the federal poverty level may get a break on their premiums in the form of a subsidy.
In their analysis of the nation’s uninsured, KFF estimated that of the marketplace-eligible people in Iowa who don’t have health insurance, about 37% could get a bronze plan for free thanks to subsidies.
A separate analysis of health insurance premiums from Kaiser Family Foundation found that average lowest-cost premiums in Iowa by metal tier were as follows for 2021: $311 for a bronze plan, $481 for silver and $443 for gold. Note that a gold plan in Iowa, in this case, costs less than a silver plan.
These averages don’t include tax premiums, which could lower your monthly cost if you qualify.
When we ran the numbers on our own marketplace, we found that a 40-year-old from Adair who makes $37,000 a year may pay just under $12 a month for a bronze plan after applying a tax credit.
How much you pay for insurance and the plan options available to you depend on where you live. There are at least three health insurance carriers in Iowa in 2021, including Oscar, Wellmark and Medica.
Sources
Kaiser Family Foundation, “Health Insurance Coverage of the Total Population”
Kaiser Family Foundation, “Marketplace Eligibility Among the Uninsured: Implications for a Broadened Enrollment Period and ACA Outreach” (January 27, 2021)
Kaiser Family Foundation, “Average Marketplace Premiums by Metal Tier, 2018-2021”
Kaiser Family Foundation, “Insurer Participation on the ACA Marketplaces, 2014-2021” (November 23, 2020)