Race, Ethnicity, and Language Preference in the Health Insurance Marketplaces 2017 Open Enrollment Period

CMS: NEW Data on Race, Ethnicity, and Language Preference in the Health Insurance Marketplaces 2017 Open Enrollment Period In recognition of National Minority Health Month, the CMS Office of Minority Health has released a data highlight that – for the first time ever – examines Marketplace enrollment activity by racial and ethnic subgroup, as well as spoken and written language preference.  Race, Ethnicity, and Language Preference in the Health Insurance Marketplaces 2017 Open Enrollment Period provides information at the national level and state level for Marketplace consumers ages 18-64 in the 39 states utilizing the HealthCare.gov eligibility and enrollment platform during the 2017 Open Enrollment Period (OEP). Some of the findings include: ·         Of all 2017 OEP Marketplace consumers ages 18-64 who attested to a specific race, 10% were Asian. Among Asians, the most common subgroups selected were Vietnamese (26%) and Asian Indian (24%). ·         Overall, 10% of consumers ages 18-64 attested to a Hispanic ethnicity. Of those adult consumers who indicated that they were Hispanic, almost half (44%) were Mexican. ·         The far majority of consumers ages 18-64 who selected a preferred spoken language selected English (90%), followed by Spanish (8%). ·         Among consumers with known spoken language preferences, the majority who preferred Spanish (56%) lived in Florida, while more than a third of those who preferred Vietnamese (35%) lived in Texas. To access this data highlight, visit https://www.cms.gov/About-CMS/Agency-Information/OMH/research-and-data/information-products/data-highlights/index.html or Download Data Highlight (PDF, 436KB) here: https://www.cms.gov/About-CMS/Agency-Information/OMH/Downloads/Data-Highlight-Race-Ethnicity-and-Language-Preference-Marketplace.pdf