8.2M Consumers Signed Up for Federal Exchange Plans, CMS Says

On Tuesday, CMS announced that about 8.2 million U.S. residents have signed up for health plans through the federal exchange since the Nov. 1 start of the Affordable Care Act's third open enrollment period, the Wall Street Journal reports (Radnofsky, Wall Street Journal, 12/22).

As of Dec. 19, enrollment this year in the 38 states that use the federal exchange surpassed the 6.4 million signups that had occurred through the federal exchange at the same time last year (O'Donnell, USA Today, 12/23)

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 (California Healthline, 12/21). Separate HHS data released Tuesday showed that about 9.3 million U.S. residents were enrolled in federal and state exchange plans as of the end of September (Goldstein, Washington Post, 12/22). That number likely will drop to 9.1 million by the end of 2015 (California Healthline, 12/21).

Federal Exchange Enrollment Details

According to the Washington Times, nearly half of the 8.2 million federal exchange enrollees selected plans between Dec. 13 and Dec. 19 (Howell, Washington Times, 12/22). U.S. residents had until Dec. 17 to enroll in coverage that will take effect Jan. 1, 2016 (California Healthline, 12/21).

Among all federal exchange enrollees, HHS officials said that about:

• 71%, or 5.8 million enrollees, renewed their federal exchange coverage; and
• 29%, or 2.4 million, selected federal exchange plans for the first time (Wall Street Journal, 12/22).

According to the Post, about two million enrollees had their 2015 federal exchange plans automatically renewed for 2016 after choosing not to select new coverage through the exchange (Washington Post, 12/22).

Further, the enrollment data showed that:

• About 2.1 million federal exchange customers are younger than age 35, almost double the number of similarly aged individuals who had enrolled in federal exchange plans by this time last year (Sullivan, The Hill, 12/22); and
• Florida and Texas had the most federal exchange signups of all states, with about 1.5 million and one million enrollees, respectively (Washington Times, 12/22).

While the most recent enrollment figures only account for states using the federal exchange, officials estimated that millions more U.S. residents have signed up for coverage through the 13 state-based exchanges (Wall Street Journal, 12/22).

Charles Gaba -- a data expert who directs ACAsignups.net, which tracks enrollment in exchange plans -- said he expects that at least 10.9 million U.S. residents have enrolled in coverage through both the federal and state-run exchanges (USA Today, 12/23).