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How to Get Health Insurance in Florida?

Health insurance plans in Florida.

This page is dedicated to helping shoppers quickly find health insurance resources in the state of Florida. Here, you will find information about the many types of health insurance plans available. You can find the basics of the Florida health insurance exchange and the upcoming open enrollment period, a brief overview of Medicaid expansion in Florida, and a quick look at short-term health insurance availability in Florida

Health Insurance Marketplace in Florida

Florida employs the federally run health marketplace, so residents enroll through HealthCare.gov. Residents can get health insurance plans in Florida through this health insurance marketplace.

Open enrollment for 2021 health insurance plans will start November 1, 2020, and continue through December 15, 2020. Outside of that open enrollment, Florida residents with qualifying events can still register or make changes to their coverage for 2020.

Nine health insurance companies are offering 2020 health plans through the Florida health insurance marketplace, as well as Bright Health, which is new to the state’s market, and Cigna, which rejoined in some parts after exiting the exchange at the end of 2015.

For individual market plans sold in Florida’s marketplace, the average rate increase after the state approval process was 0.0 percent for 2020. Even though there’s a variation from one insurer to another, overall premiums (before taking subsidies into account) are flat from 2019 to 2020.

 1,913,975 persons enrolled in individual market plans through the Florida health insurance exchange during the open enrollment period for 2020 coverage. This was a 7.3 percent increase over the previous year, which was the third-largest percentage increase in the country (many states saw declining enrollment from 2019 to 2020).

Expansion of Medicaid in Florida

Medicaid expansion was intended as one of the Affordable Care Act’s main vehicles for reducing the number of individuals who lacked medical insurance coverage. Nevertheless, the United States Supreme Court ruling in 2012 made Medicaid expansion optional for states. And even though a growing number of states have since opted to expand coverage, there are 14, including Florida, that have taken no step to expand Medicaid eligibility to include low-income, non-elderly, non-disabled adults without children.

Florida’s choice not to expand Medicaid leaves an estimated 391,000 individuals in the coverage gap, meaning they don’t qualify for Medicaid, nor are they eligible for tax subsidies to enable them afford private health insurance. According to a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation analysis, over 1.3 million individuals in Florida would gain Medicaid coverage if the state were to expand coverage, and the uninsured rate would reduce by 30 percent.

Since 2013, monthly Florida CHIP/Medicaid enrollment has decreased by 3 percent — versus a countrywide average increase of 23 percent.

Short-Term Health Insurance Plans in Florida

Insurance companies can provide short-term plans with initial terms up to one year.

Since Florida does not have state regulations for short-term plans, federal regulations apply in the state. Insurers can provide short-term plans with initial terms up to 364 days and renew for a total duration of up to 36 months.

The Florida Health Insurance Advisory Board is recommending that legislators add a provision to Florida statute to require stronger disclosure language for short-term plans and a requirement that shoppers sign a statement indicating that they have read the disclosure or had it read to them by a salesperson (the recommendation was approved during a December 2019 FHIAB board meeting, to be forwarded to leaders in the Florida House and Senate. But no step has been taken by lawmakers up to date).

Resources and References:

• Individual Market Health Insurance Plans Rates
• Implication of Medicaid Expansion