HHS: 9.9M U.S. Residents Enroll Through Federal, State Exchanges
About 9.9 million U.S. residents have signed up for coverage through the federal and state exchanges during the Affordable Care Act's second open enrollment period, HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell said Wednesday, The Hill reports.
Federal Enrollment Figures
According to Burwell, 7.5 million consumers signed up for coverage through the federal exchange (Viebeck, The Hill, 2/4).
Out of the states using the federal exchange, Florida has had the highest enrollment numbers this year, with more than 1.3 million sign-ups, followed by Texas, with about 969,000, and North Carolina, with about 480,000 (Howell, Washington Times, 2/4).
Federal exchange enrollment is up from about 7.3 million through the week of Jan. 23, according to CQ Roll Call (Young, CQ Roll Call, 2/4).
State Enrollment Figures
Meanwhile, 2.4 million consumers have used state-run exchanges to sign up for coverage, according to Reuters. Data from California are through Jan. 18, and numbers from the remaining 12 states and Washington D.C. are through Jan. 17 (Nicholson, Reuters, 2/4).
Payment Figures
HHS did not announce how many of the 9.9 million enrollees had paid their first premium, which activates coverage. According to The Hill, insurers have predicted about 80% to 85% of new enrollees will pay their first month's premium. HHS estimated there will be about 9.1 million paid enrollments this year (The Hill, 2/4).
Deadline Approaching
CMS Deputy Administrator Andy Slavitt said the department is seeing "more and more activity in the call center and ... on the website" as the end of the second open enrollment season looms (Reuters, 2/4).
According to The Hill, HHS is boosting its enrollment outreach efforts leading up to the deadline. Further, health officials have not given up the possibility of extending the enrollment period past the deadline, as many might learn about the law's individual mandate requirement when they file their taxes in April (The Hill, 2/4).
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