More Than 3M U.S. Residents Have Enrolled in Exchange Coverage

More than three million U.S. residents have signed up for health coverage through the federal and state exchanges so far during the Affordable Care Act's third open enrollment period, Modern Healthcare reports (Dickson, Modern Healthcare, 12/9).

Background

The Obama administration has estimated that about 10 million U.S. residents will be enrolled in health coverage purchased through the ACA's exchanges by the end of 2016. About 9.9 million U.S. residents were enrolled in exchange plans as of October, but that number likely will drop to 9.1 million by the end of 2015 (California Healthline, 11/30).

Federal Exchange Enrollment

According to CMS data released Wednesday, more than 800,000 U.S. residents selected health plans through the federal exchange during the current open enrollment period's fifth week, which spanned from Nov. 29 to Dec. 5.

Acting CMS Administrator Andy Slavitt said, "We are now seeing a surge of interest as we get closer to the deadline," adding, "Each day has been bigger than the day before."

In total, 2.8 million U.S. residents have signed up for federal exchange plans since the Nov. 1 start of this year's open enrollment period. Of those, one million individuals signed up for federal exchange coverage for the first time (Pear, New York Times, 12/9). The remaining 1.8 million individuals have renewed their current exchange plans or selected new coverage (AP/Sacramento Bee, 12/9).

Further, the data show that about half of the 2.8 million individuals who have signed up for federal exchange coverage live in five states. According to the data:

• 598,279 Florida residents have signed up for federal exchange plans;
• 317,094 Texas residents have signed up for such coverage;
• 192,760 North Carolina residents have signed up for the plans;
• 151,600 Georgia residents have signed up for the plans; and
• 146,975 Pennsylvania residents have enrolled in federal exchange coverage (New York Times, 12/9).

According to The Hill, the figures indicate that the administration is likely to surpass its goal of enrolling 900,000 new consumers in exchange plans. HealthCare.gov CEO Kevin Counihan said, "We're extremely pleased with how we're tracking so far" (Ferris, The Hill, 12/9).

Officials also said the enrollment figures signal long-term stability of HealthCare.gov, the federal exchange enrollment website (Humer, Reuters, 12/9).

State Exchange Enrollment

Meanwhile, about 721,000 U.S. residents have signed up for coverage through nine of the 13 state-run exchanges, Modern Healthcare reports.

The state exchange enrollment estimates were determined from publicly available data or information submitted by officials. Washington, D.C., and Kentucky officials did not return requests for data. A spokesperson for Iowa's exchange said the state's enrollment data would be released sometime after Dec. 15. A New York state exchange spokesperson said its data would not be released until after the open enrollment period ends on Jan. 31, 2016 (Modern Healthcare, 12/9).