Nearly 4.6 million people have chosen an Affordable Care Act (ACA) Health Insurance Marketplace plan so far during the 2024 Marketplace Open Enrollment period, CMS reported last week.
The Marketplace Open Enrollment Period began November 1. CMS’ report shows data through November 18 for the 32 states using HealthCare.gov and November 11 for the 17 states and the District of Columbia with State-based Marketplaces. The open enrollment period ends January 15 with HealthCare.gov, while State-based Marketplaces have different deadlines. Those who enroll by December 15 can get coverage starting January 1.
CMS said that 20% of the plan selections are from people who are new to the Marketplaces, representing 920,000 people. The remaining 80%, or 3.7 million consumers, have ACA coverage in 2023 and have renewed their plan or found a new plan.
In addition, nearly 4.1 million people chose a plan through HealthCare.gov, while nearly 502,000 people chose a plan through their State-based Marketplace, CMS said. The state with the highest ACA Marketplace enrollment numbers is Florida, which has more than 1.1 million plan selections through HealthCare.gov.
These enrollment numbers are higher than last year’s. At a similar point last year, nearly 3.4 million people had chosen an ACA Marketplace health plan. About 655,000 people were new to the Marketplace and 2.7 million were returning consumers. CMS’ data from last year were based on enrollment numbers through November 19, 2022, for states using HealthCare.gov and through November 12, 2022, for states using State-based Marketplaces.
“In the first weeks of Open Enrollment, we have seen an increase in plan selections and a significant increase in the number of new enrollees year over year. Providing quality, affordable health care options is a top priority and the numbers prove that our focus is in the right place,” said CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure in a statement.
CMS added that there have been “strong” enrollment increases in Marketplace coverage throughout 2023. From March to September of 2023, 1.5 million more people enrolled in Marketplace coverage compared to the same period in 2022. Some of these people are those who were disenrolled from Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program during the transition back to Medicaid renewals (which were paused for three years during the Covid-19 pandemic).
HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra noted that four out of five consumers have access to a plan for $10 or less a month after subsidies on HealthCare.gov. In addition, about 96% of those using HealthCare.gov will have a choice between three or more plans.
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