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Currently, the one percent assessment applies to large group plans (non-self-insured), and that will no longer be the case once Kentucky switches to Healthcare.gov. The 3.5 percent assessment will be calculated for individual and small group plans sold through Healthcare.gov in Kentucky, but the total cost of the assessment will be spread across each exchange carrier’s entire ACA-compliant individual and small group book of business. Carriers that only sell off-exchange individual and small group plans will avoid the fee entirely.

At ACAsignups, Charles Gaba has crunched the numbers. It appears that the total fee (assuming an enrollment of about 102,000 people in private plans in the exchange) in 2017 would be a little less than $18 million, as opposed to the $28 million budget that Kynect currently has. So there’s potentially a $10 million annual savings available, although the $23 million transitional costs will eat up the savings for the first two or three years. After that, it’s possible that using Healthcare.gov will save money for the people of Kentucky. But at the same time, they’ll miss out on the customer service and outreach that Kynect has been so successful at providing.