HealthCare.gov increases same-store signups 6.6%
EHealth says its customers are paying about 6% more per month for coverage.
HealthCare.gov managers say the online supermarket for health insurance signed up 8.3 million people for 2021 coverage.
In states where HealthCare.gov managed Affordable Care Act (ACA) public exchange enrollment both last year and this year, the number of signups was up 6.6%, officials said.
A copy of the latest HealthCare.gov snapshot report is available here.
The ACA exchange system gives people a way to shop for commercial health insurance online and to use ACA advance premium tax credits to pay for the coverage.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), an arm of the U.S. Department of Health and Health Services, runs HealthCare.gov to provide ACA exchange services in states that are unwilling or unable to provide exchange services themselves.
This year, New Jersey and Pennsylvania set up their own locally run exchange programs.
Nevada went from having a state-run exchange that used HealthCare.gov systems to operating its own account signup and administration systems.
The HealthCare.gov open enrollment period for 2021 coverage started Nov. 1 and ended Dec. 15.
The current enrollment period figures for most of the locally run ACA exchange programs are not directly comparable to last year’s numbers because, this year, most of the locally run exchange programs are extending the signup deadline past Dec. 15.
In New Jersey, for example, the new, state-based GetCoveredNJ exchange is giving consumers at least until Tuesday to sign up for 2021 coverage.
GeCoveredNJ managers reported that, as of Dec. 5, the exchange had received signup information for 226,727 residents, including about 20,000 new enrollees.
Average New Jersey exchange users have been paying an average of about $120 per month per person for 2021 coverage, after taking state and federal subsidies into account, officials said.
A private web broker, eHealth, helps people in all states sign up for coverage online. The company reported earlier this month that health insurance customers without ACA subsidies have agreed to pay an average of $484 in premiums per month for 2021 coverage, or 6% more than eHealth customers are now paying for individual major medical premiums for 2020 coverage.
At eHealth, average family premiums increased 8%, to $1,230.
Average individual deductibles increased 3%, to $4,394.
Average family deductibles fell 1%, to $7,800, from $7,893