CMS NEWS: Health Insurance Marketplace Open Enrollment Snapshot Week 6: Dec 6 – Dec 12, 2015

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 16, 2015                                                                                                                           

Contact: CMS Media Relations

(202) 690-6145 | CMS Media Inquiries

Health Insurance Marketplace Open Enrollment Snapshot

Week 6: December 6 – December 12, 2015

More than 1.3 million consumers signed-up for health coverage through the HealthCare.gov platform between December 6 and December 12, the last full week before the deadline for January 1 coverage, bringing the total number of plan selections made since Open Enrollment began on November 1 to 4.17 million consumers. Approximately 500,000 were new consumers, for a cumulative total of about 1.5 million new consumers since the beginning of Open enrollment.

“The unprecedented demand over the last several days continues to show that coverage through HealthCare.gov is something millions of Americans want and need,” said Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell. "We urge those who left their names with the Marketplace to come back to Healthcare.gov or the call center and complete their application for coverage starting January 1."

Because of the unprecedented demand and volume of consumers contacting our call center or visiting HealthCare.gov, we extended the deadline to sign-up for January 1 coverage until 11:59pm PST December 17. Hundreds of thousands have already selected plans on December 14 and 15 and approximately 1 million consumers have left their contact information to hold their place in line.  

Similar to last year, each week, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will release weekly Open Enrollment snapshots for the HealthCare.gov platform, which is used by the Federally-facilitated Marketplaces and State Partnership Marketplaces, as well as some State-based Marketplaces. These snapshots provide point-in-time estimates of weekly plan selections, call center activity and visits to HealthCare.gov or CuidadoDeSalud.gov. The final number of plan selections associated with enrollment activity to date could fluctuate as plan changes or cancellations occur, such as in response to life changes like starting a new job or getting married. In addition, the weekly snapshot only looks at new plan selections, active plan renewals and, starting at the end of December, auto-renewals and does not include the number of consumers who paid their premiums to effectuate their enrollment.

HHS will produce more detailed reports that look at plan selections across the Federally-facilitated Marketplace and State-based Marketplaces later in the Open Enrollment period.

Definitions and details on the data are included in the glossary.

Federal Marketplace Snapshot

Federal Marketplace Snapshot	Week 6 Dec 6 – Dec 12	Cumulative Nov 1 – Dec 12
Plan Selections (net)	1,326,946	4,171,714
New Consumers	38 percent	36 percent
Consumers Renewing Coverage	62 percent	64 percent
Applications Submitted (Number of Consumers)	1,604,633	6,147,257
Call Center Volume	1,511,082	5,383,321
Average Call Center Wait Time	22 minutes 44 seconds	9 minutes 55 seconds
Calls with Spanish Speaking Representative	89,262	338,906
Average Wait for Spanish Speaking Rep	19 seconds	14 seconds
HealthCare.gov Users	3,601,900	13,512,506
CuidadoDeSalud.gov Users	208,935	480,269
Window Shopping HealthCare.gov Users	1,357,120	4,718,633
Window Shopping CuidadoDeSalud.gov Users	21,249	80,195

HealthCare.gov State-by-State Snapshot

Consumers across the country continued to explore their health insurance options by reaching out to a call center representative at 1-800-318-2596, attending enrollment events in their local communities, or visiting HealthCare.gov orCuidadoDeSalud.gov. Individual plan selections for the states using the HealthCare.gov platform include:

Week 6	Cumulative Nov 1 – Dec 12
Alabama	88,108
Alaska	9,344
Arizona	94,928
Arkansas	26,608
Delaware	11,139
Florida	834,938
Georgia	229,552
Hawaii	8,060
Illinois	154,947
Indiana	73,943
Iowa	24,442
Kansas	50,000
Louisiana	88,175
Maine	37,210
Michigan	138,765
Mississippi	33,773
Missouri	129,536
Montana	25,103
Nebraska	43,944
Nevada	43,876
New Hampshire	21,277
New Jersey	121,592
New Mexico	22,440
North Carolina	280,080
North Dakota	9,344
Ohio	97,786
Oklahoma	58,621
Oregon	74,523
Pennsylvania	212,605
South Carolina	112,745
South Dakota	13,905
Tennessee	125,777
Texas	474,616
Utah	80,887
Virginia	178,465
West Virginia	15,615
Wisconsin	112,457
Wyoming	12,588

Glossary

Plan Selections: The weekly and cumulative metrics provide a preliminary total of those who have submitted an application and selected a plan. Each week’s plan selections reflect the total number of plan selections for the week and cumulatively from the beginning of Open Enrollment to the end of the reporting period, net of any cancellations from a consumer or cancellations from an insurer during that time.

Because of further automation in communication with issuers, the number of net plan selections reported this year account for issuer-initiated plan cancellations that occur before the end of Open Enrollment for reasons such as non-payment of premiums. This change will result in a larger number of cancellations being accounted for during Open Enrollment than last year. Last year, these cancellations were reflected only in reports on effectuated enrollment after the end of Open Enrollment. As a result, there may also be a smaller difference this year between plan selections at the end of Open Enrollment and subsequent effectuated enrollment, although some difference will remain because plan cancellations related to non-payment of premium will frequently occur after the end of Open Enrollment.

Plan selections will include those consumers who are automatically re-enrolled into their current plan or another plan with similar benefits, which occurs at the end of December.

To have their coverage effectuated, consumers generally need to pay their first month’s health plan premium. This release does not include totals for effectuated enrollments.

New Consumers: A consumer is considered to be a new consumer if they did not have Marketplace coverage at the start of Open Enrollment.

Renewing Consumers: A consumer is considered to be a renewing consumer if they had 2015 Marketplace coverage at the start of Open Enrollment and either actively select the same plan or a new plan for 2016 or are automatically re-enrolled into their current plan or another plan, which occurs at the end of December.

Marketplace: Generally, references to the Health Insurance Marketplace in this report refer to 38 states that use the HealthCare.gov platform. The states using the HealthCare.gov platform are Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

HealthCare.gov States: The 38 states that use the HealthCare.gov platform for the 2016 benefit year, including the Federally-facilitated Marketplace, State Partnership Marketplaces and State-based Marketplaces.

Applications Submitted: This includes a consumer who is on a completed and submitted application or who, through the automatic re-enrollment process, which occurs at the end of December, had an application submitted to a Marketplace using the HealthCare.gov platform. If determined eligible for Marketplace coverage, a new consumer still needs to pick a health plan (i.e., plan selection) and pay their premium to get covered (i.e., effectuated enrollment). Because families can submit a single application, this figure tallies the total number of people on a submitted application (rather than the total number of submitted applications).

Call Center Volume: The total number of calls received by the Federally-facilitated Marketplace call center over the course of the week covered by the snapshot or from the start of Open Enrollment. Calls with Spanish speaking representatives are not included.

Calls with Spanish Speaking Representative: The total number of calls received by the Federally-facilitated Marketplace call center where consumers chose to speak with a Spanish-speaking representative. These calls are not included within the Call Center Volume metric.

Average Call Center Wait Time: The average amount of time a consumer waited before reaching a customer service representative. The cumulative total averages wait time over the course of the extended time period.

HealthCare.gov or CuidadodeSalud.gov  Users: These user metrics total how many unique users viewed or interacted with HealthCare.gov or CuidadodeSalud.gov , respectively, over the course of a specific date range. For cumulative totals, a separate report is run for the entire Open Enrollment period to minimize users being counted more than once during that longer range of time and to provide a more accurate estimate of unique users. Depending on an individual’s browser settings and browsing habits, a visitor may be counted as a unique user more than once.

Window Shopping HealthCare.gov Users or CuidadoDeSalud.gov Users: These user metrics total how many unique users interacted with the window-shopping tool at HealthCare.gov or CuidadoDeSalud.gov, respectively, over the course of a specific date range. For cumulative totals, a separate report is run for the entire Open Enrollment period to minimize users being counted more than once during that longer range of time and to provide a more accurate estimate of unique users. Depending on an individual’s browser settings and browsing habits, a visitor may be counted as a unique user more than once. Users who window-shopped are also included in the total HealthCare.gov or CuidadoDeSalud.govuser total.