Nearly 9 Million Enrolled in Affordable Care Act Plans During Open Enrollment

The US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released their Biweekly Enrollment Snapshot for the first half of January. These snapshots provide information about how many individuals have signed up for health plans through Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplaces.

Thus far, more than 8.8 million Americans have enrolled in ACA health plans during this open enrollment period. This time last year, only 8.7 million individuals were enrolled, which the CMS said demonstrates the strong need for the ACA despite GOP plans to repeal the health law.

This enrollment snapshot does not include those who have enrolled through 12 state marketplaces, since they do not use HealthCare.gov to sign-up individuals for coverage. As of December 24, 2016, 2.8 million individuals had enrolled in health plans through the state-based marketplaces, according to the CMS.

From January 1 to 14, there were 63,190 plans selected, and 440,402 individuals submitted an application. The CMS reported that nearly 4 million users visited the website during this 2-week period, bringing the total number of visitors to 22.8 million for the entire open enrollment period.

Since the start of open enrollment, hundreds of thousands of individuals in each state have enrolled in health plans through the marketplace. States like Florida and Texas currently have the highest amount of enrollees, with 1.67 million and 1.14 million sign-ups, respectively.

With the open enrollment deadline fast approaching, the CMS expects to see a spike in enrollments, as it did in 2016. The next snapshot issued will cover all enrollments through January 31, the last day to sign up for a plan.

“With almost 9 million people signed up for 2017 coverage just in HealthCare.gov states, it’s clear that Marketplace coverage is a product Americans want and need,” said US Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell. “Strong demand is especially striking in light of the unique headwinds created by discouraging rhetoric from ACA opponents. More than 40,000 people have contacted our call center expressing concerns about whether they should sign up for coverage, with a sharp uptick in these questions last weekend. My answer is a resounding yes: in fact, I’ll be signing up for Marketplace coverage myself by the end of the month. If you still need coverage for 2017, visit HealthCare.gov or your state Marketplace before January 31, and join me and millions of other Americans in purchasing affordable, quality coverage.”