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Obamacare rebates: $1.1 billion back to consumers

Companies must return excess health insurance premium dollars

By Chuck Smith-Dewey
healthinsurance.org founder

The Affordable Care Act has taken $1.1 billion out of health insurance companies' coffers and returned it to consumers, where it belongs.

The Affordable Care Act’s requirement that health insurance companies spend 80 percent of your premium dollars on actual health care – rather than marketing, administrative and CEO salaries – has returned $1,101,372,250 to 12.8 million American consumers this year.

The medical loss ratio – also known as the 80/20 rule – means that insurers for the first time have to disclose where they’re spending plan holder premium dollars. If they spend less than 80 percent (less than 85 percent for large group plans) on providing medical care, they must rebate the excess dollars back to consumers by August 1 of each year (assuming President Obama is re-elected and his health reform law is kept intact).

The average American household received $151 this first year, with the highest rebates in Vermont ($807), Mississippi ($651), Alaska ($622), Alabama ($518), Maine ($463), Illinois ($380, West Virginia ($374) and Wyoming ($350). See the statistics for your state below. Click on your state name to see more information about obtaining affordable healthcare in your state.

2012 Affordable Care Act health insurance premium rebates

State	Total Rebates	Consumers Benefiting	Average per Family
Alaska	$1,280,908	2,712	$622
Alabama	$4,220,331	13,556	$518
Arkansas	$7,787,177	115,461	$114
Arizona	$27,868,667	413,912	$118
California	$73,905,280	1,877,186	$65
Colorado	$27,452,769	208,197	$227
Connecticut	$12,949,130	137,452	$168
District of Columbia	$47,189,436	592,234	$157
Delaware	$1,846,989	5,639	$351
Florida	$123,624,635	1,251,397	$168
Georgia	$19,764,771	243,813	$134
Hawaii	$195,053	26,900	$15
Iowa	$1,469,276	28,042	$100
Idaho	$1,124,918	32,576	$70
Illinois	$61,802,411	299,544	$380
Indiana	$14,249,673	283,432	$99
Kansas	$4,139,506	67,512	$91
Kentucky	$15,326,103	249,275	$114
Louisiana	$4,111,975	75,493	$94
Massachusetts	$11,886,643	163,949	$140
Maryland	$27,882,606	141,129	$340
Maine	$2,579,922	10,589	$463
Michigan	$13,908,262	113,995	$214
Minnesota	$8,956,885	123,171	$160
Missouri	$60,664,564	587,654	$173
Mississippi	$10,122,532	51,744	$329
Montana	$2,607,244	25,353	$194
North Carolina	$18,678,898	216,649	$158
North Dakota	$10,160	4,229	$5
Nebraska	$4,832,049	46,444	$215
New Hampshire	$77,507	16,023	$9
New Jersey	$7,670,066	44,998	$300
New Mexico	$0	0
Nevada	$4,548,500	46,590	$180
New York	$86,526,642	1,001,476	$138
Ohio	$11,331,726	143,327	$139
Oklahoma	$20,296,875	263,404	$126
Oregon	$4,654,772	23,394	$368
Pennsylvania	$51,588,303	575,551	$165
Rhode Island	$0	0
South Carolina	$19,630,152	251,632	$131
South Dakota	$47,948	1,370	$68
Tennessee	$28,810,557	240,298	$201
Texas	$166,975,840	1,516,721	$187
Utah	$3,696,778	109,893	$85
Virginia	$43,127,639	686,738	$115
Vermont	$2,346,018	4,636	$807
Washington	$594,031	7,681	$185
Wisconsin	$10,369,793	282,812	$76
West Virginia	$2,703,790	16,434	$374
Wyoming	$1,112,043	6,290	$350
Territory	Total Rebates	Consumers Benefiting	Average per Family
Guam	$15,394,953	46,390	$852
Northern Mariana Islands	$291,586	1,022	$782
Puerto Rico	$5,508,831	58,648	$225
Virgin Islands	$1,629,124	5,698	$462

For a further breakdown by individual, small group and large group markets, visit healthcare.gov.

Tags: affordable care act, health insurance, medical loss ratio, Obamacare

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