Dec. 10--With procrastination being part of human nature, the final two weeks of enrollment to the Health Insurance Marketplace has been the busiest for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The deadline is Dec. 15 for health coverage that will begin Jan. 1.
Open enrollment for 2016 health coverage at HealthCare.gov began Nov. 1, and runs through Jan. 31. People who need coverage starting Jan. 1, however, must sign up by the Dec. 15 deadline.
Much like last year, the Marketplace has seen a surge of interest as the deadline nears. In Arkansas, there have been 18,462 plan selections as of Saturday, about 5,000 more than the week before. By the Dec. 15 deadline last year in Arkansas, there were 19,900 plans selected.
"Last week was the busiest days of the year, and it is only being surpassed by the past few days," Andy Slavitt, acting administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said in a national press teleconference Wednesday.
Slavitt went on to say the Marketplace reached "a milestone" last week with 1 million new customers 10 days before the Dec. 15 deadline for open enrollment. There were also about 1 million calls fielded in the past week, and an average of 65,000 visits a day to www.HealthCare.gov.
"Clearly, people have been waiting all year to get signed up," Slavitt said. "People are ready and they are shopping."
About 25 percent of consumers have renewed their plans, Slavitt added, compared to percentages in the teens last year.
Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell said in late October that returning Marketplace customers have saved money by shopping.
"Consumers who visited HealthCare.gov last year to comparison shop for the best plan saved almost $400 a year in premiums for the same level of coverage, and we expect people to be able to find similar deals for 2016," Burwell said at that time.
Evidence that people are becoming more educated about plans includes data showing about 2 million consumers have shopped for drug and physician options. People are picking plans based on their health-care needs, rather than simply choosing the least expensive plan, Slavitt noted.
Kevin Counihan, CEO of Health Insurance Marketplaces, said in the teleconference that more than half of the plan selections took place in the final week of open enrollment last year. There are currently about 2.8 million people signed up in the federal Marketplace and the goal is to have 10 million signed up by the end of 2016.
The administrators stressed the importance of signing up to avoid a fee and to study the tax incentives offered to sign up.
Counihan said that Arkansas, Louisiana, South Carolina, Tennessee and Nebraska are states that have already surpassed last year's numbers 10 days from the deadline. There are about 350,000 more consumers signed up now than this time last year, Counihan said.
Responding to a question from a reporter with The Oklahoman, Slavitt said that although silver plans for Oklahomans increased about 36 percent this year, plans last year were below average and played "catch up." The uninsured numbers overall have decreased in Oklahoma, Slavitt added.
Pointing to a major worker layoff in the Muscle Shoals, Ala., area, a reporter prompted a note from the administrators that states Marketplace plans are based on 2016 salaries, not 2015.
Nationally, silver plans increased 7 percent from last year due to a variety of marketplace dynamics, including participation and the number of health-care providers.
About 66 percent of consumers in Arkansas can find plans for $75 or less a month in premiums after tax credits through HealthCare.gov. There are five issuers and an average of 40 plans in Arkansas. Nationally, there are more than 77,000 trained agents and brokers helping people make the right plan choice.
Representatives at the 24-hour Call Center are available every day at (800) 318-2596.
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