Covered California Enrollment Surging Ahead of April 15 Deadline

More than 70,000 additional consumers signed up for insurance through Covered California from April 1 to April 9 after the exchange gave those who had begun applications an extra 15 days to complete them, KPCC's "KPCC News" reports (O'Neill, "KPCC News," KPCC, 4/10).

Background

Last month, Covered California officials said the exchange would allow potential enrollees to finish their applications by April 15 -- provided that they had started the application by midnight on March 31.

As of the end of February:

• Nearly one million state residents had enrolled in private coverage through the exchange;
• About 1.1 million were determined to likely qualify for Medi-Cal coverage through the exchange; and
• Hundreds of thousands of additional residents had applied for coverage but had not yet completed enrollment.

Medi-Cal is California's Medicaid program (California Healthline, 3/31).

Details of Enrollment Surge

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Covered California Executive Director Peter Lee said, "We've seen in the last nine days more people signing up for plans than the entire month of November." He added that the exchange expects to see "significantly more enrollment" by April 15.

Lee noted that "all together, with Covered California coverage and Medi-Cal, we had more than three million Californians benefiting from the Affordable Care Act."

Meanwhile, Lee said that Covered California plans to send more than 340,000 reminder emails to state residents who began but have not completed the application process.

Lee said the exchange will continue to send the reminders through the April 15 deadline ("KPCC News," KPCC, 4/10).