GESTIÓN EN SALUD PÚBLICA: CMS NEWS: Health Insurance Marketplace Open Enrollment Snapshot Week 11: Jan.10, 2016

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 20, 2016

Contact: CMS Media Relations

Health Insurance Marketplace Open Enrollment Snapshot

Week 11: January 10, 2016 – January 16, 2016

Since Open Enrollment began on November 1, about 8.8 million consumers signed-up for health coverage through the HealthCare.gov platform or had their coverage automatically renewed. This week’s snapshot includes weekly and cumulative data for enrollment through HealthCare.gov, a breakdown of cumulative data for 38 states using the HealthCare.gov platform, and cumulative data for local markets.

“As expected, consumer interest is beginning to increase again as we near the deadline for 2016 coverage,” HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell said. “We know we have more work to do and as we count down to the January 31 final deadline, we’re focused on making sure consumers understand that they must act soon to find affordable health coverage and avoid the fee for choosing to not have health insurance in 2016. Consumers should know that we’re here to help 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.”

As we have previously noted, this year the number of net plan selections accounts for both insurer and consumer-initiated cancellations that occur before the end of Open Enrollment. This is a change from last year, and it will result in a larger number of cancellations being accounted for during, rather than after, Open Enrollment. Last year, cancellations from insurers that happened during Open Enrollment were reflected only in reports on effectuated enrollment after the end of Open Enrollment. As a result, there will likely be a smaller difference this year between plan selection totals at the end of Open Enrollment and subsequent effectuated enrollment.

To provide a clearer picture of underlying enrollment trends, starting this week, we are including the weekly net newplan selection total. This number is in addition to the plan selection total we have been reporting each week, which includes both new and returning consumers. Net new plan selections take into account new plan selections in the reporting week minus any consumer or insurer-initiated cancelations for new plan selections.

Overall, net plan selections for Week 11 totaled 153,631. Over the same time period, net new plan selections totaled 399,885, about the same as the similar week during last year’s Open Enrollment. Cancelations reflected in the net plan selection number for this week were by and large insurer-initiated cancellations of returning consumers who were automatically enrolled for 2016 but actually had their policies terminated at the end of 2015.

Similar to last year, each week, the Centers for Medicare & 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 plan selections and does not include the number of consumers who paid their premiums to effectuate their enrollment.

HHS will continue to 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 11 Jan 10 – Jan 16	Cumulative Nov 1 – Jan 16
Plan Selections (net)	153,631	8,836,102
Applications Submitted (Number of Consumers)	560,581	11,627,465
Call Center Volume	1,138,599	11,535,731
Average Call Center Wait Time	8 minutes 32 seconds	10 minutes 20 seconds
Calls with Spanish Speaking Representative	81,358	700,632
Average Wait for Spanish Speaking Rep	29 seconds	21 seconds
HealthCare.gov Users	3,107,502	23,491,161
CuidadoDeSalud.gov Users	262,859	1,305,585
Window Shopping HealthCare.gov Users	730,139	8,032,535
Window Shopping CuidadoDeSalud.gov Users	15,443	159,445

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 11	Cumulative Plan Selections Nov 1 – Jan 16
Alabama	180,109
Alaska	21,830
Arizona	182,828
Arkansas	68,101
Delaware	26,334
Florida	1,605,623
Georgia	535,918
Hawaii	12,764
Illinois	354,962
Indiana	185,100
Iowa	51,575
Kansas	92,380
Louisiana	195,261
Maine	79,789
Michigan	327,674
Mississippi	97,909
Missouri	266,036
Montana	55,875
Nebraska	82,245
Nevada	77,717
New Hampshire	51,935
New Jersey	266,726
New Mexico	49,777
North Carolina	569,649
North Dakota	20,326
Ohio	225,173
Oklahoma	133,574
Oregon	137,820
Pennsylvania	415,351
South Carolina	211,846
South Dakota	23,890
Tennessee	245,566
Texas	1,152,013
Utah	159,623
Virginia	391,155
West Virginia	35,080
Wisconsin	224,719
Wyoming	21,849

HealthCare.gov Local Market Snapshot

The Week 11 snapshot includes a look at plan section by Designated Market Areas (DMAs) which are local media markets. These data provides another level of detail to better understand total plan selections within local communities. Some DMAs include one or more counties in a state that is not using the HealthCare.gov platform in 2016. Plan selections for those DMAs only include data for the portions of these areas that are using the HealthCare.gov platform, so the cumulative totals in the snapshot do not represent plan selections for the entire DMA. In addition, some DMAs cross into multiple states that use the HealthCare.gov platform and those totals are cumulative for all HealthCare.gov states in that DMA. Because some communities do not fall into a DMA, cumulative plan selections for local markets will not total to the national cumulative plan selection number.

Local Markets in HealthCare.gov States	State	Cumulative Plan Selections Nov 1 – Jan 16
Abilene-Sweetwater	Texas	9,769
Albany	Georgia	15,452
Albuquerque-Santa Fe	New Mexico	42,596
Alexandria	Louisiana	9,020
Alpena	Michigan	1,954
Amarillo	Texas	13,848
Anchorage	Alaska	14,129
Atlanta	Georgia	405,103
Augusta	Georgia	30,659
Austin	Texas	114,782
Bangor	Maine	22,451
Baton Rouge	Louisiana	41,611
Beaumont-Port Arthur	Texas	13,940
Bend	Oregon	10,166
Billings	Montana	15,843
Biloxi-Gulfport	Mississippi	9,186
Birmingham (Ann and Tusc)	Alabama	71,533
Bluefield-Beckley-Oak Hill	West Virginia	7,391
Boise	Idaho	875*
Boston (Manchester)	Massachusetts	41,480
Buffalo	New York	1,270
Burlington-Plattsburgh	Vermont	4,876
Butte-Bozeman	Montana	9,366
Casper-Riverton	Wyoming	4,794
Cedar Rapids-Wtrlo-Iwc & Dub	Iowa	15,739
Champaign & Sprngfld-Decatur	Illinois	23,165
Charleston	South Carolina	43,332
Charleston-Huntington	West Virginia	15,858
Charlotte	North Carolina	193,013
Charlottesville	Virginia	15,421
Chattanooga	Tennessee	36,984
Cheyenne-Scottsbluf	Wyoming	6,229
Chicago	Illinois	283,454
Cincinnati	Ohio	45,635
Clarksburg-Weston	West Virginia	5,816
Cleveland-Akron (Canton)	Ohio	80,768
Columbia	South Carolina	40,916
Columbia-Jefferson City	Missouri	21,177
Columbus	Georgia	18,992
Columbus	Ohio	44,091
Columbus-Tupelo-West Point	Mississippi	13,046
Corpus Christi	Texas	18,177
Dallas-Ft. Worth	Texas	341,290
Davenport-R. Island-Moline	Iowa/Illinois	16,579
Dayton	Ohio	22,006
Denver	Colorado	6,863
Des Moines-Ames	Iowa	19,184
Detroit	Michigan	170,085
Dothan	Alabama	9,015
Duluth-Superior	Minnesota	6,558
El Paso (Las Cruces)	Texas	59,098
Elmira (Corning)	New York	1,149*
Erie	New York	8,686
Eugene	Oregon	19,252
Evansville	Indiana	14,039
Fairbanks	Alaska	2,644
Fargo-Valley City	North Dakota	10,557
Flint-Saginaw-Bay City	Michigan	29,904
Ft. Myers-Naples	Florida	85,960
Ft. Smith-Fay-Sprngdl-Rgrs	Arkansas	21,967
Ft. Wayne	Indiana	21,615
Gainesville	Florida	18,543
Glendive	Montana	530*
Grand Rapids-Kalmzoo-B.Crk	Michigan	66,347
Great Falls	Montana	7,763
Green Bay-Appleton	Wisconsin	49,711
Greensboro-H.Point-W.Salem	North Carolina	102,010
Greenville-N.Bern-Washngtn	North Carolina	41,113
Greenvll-Spart-Ashevll-And	North Carolina	112,382
Greenwood-Greenville	Mississippi	6,748
Harlingen-Wslco-Brnsvl-Mca	Texas	50,320
Harrisburg-Lncstr-Leb-York	Pennsylvania	60,850
Harrisonburg	Virginia	11,846
Hattiesburg-Laurel	Mississippi	10,713*
Helena	Montana	2,581*
Honolulu	Hawaii	12,764
Houston	Texas	307,320
Huntsville-Decatur	Alabama	36,120
Idaho Falls-Pocatello	Idaho	2,735
Indianapolis	Indiana	84,951
Jackson	Mississippi	38,481
Jackson	Tennessee	11,105
Jacksonville	Florida	96,077
Johnstown-Altoona	Pennsylvania	19,165
Jonesboro	Arkansas	5,542
Joplin-Pittsburg	Missouri	15,012
Juneau	Alaska	3,010*
Kansas City	Kansas/Missouri	100,895
Knoxville	Tennessee	49,047
La Crosse-Eau Claire	Wisconsin	23,268
Lafayette	Indiana	3,151
Lafayette	Louisiana	24,353
Lake Charles	Louisiana	6,591*
Lansing	Michigan	14,655
Laredo	Texas	13,439
Las Vegas	Nevada	54,556
Lima	Ohio	1,589
Lincoln & Hastings-Krny	Nebraska	36,727
Little Rock-Pine Bluff	Arkansas	32,998
Louisville	Kentucky	8,460
Lubbock	Texas	12,640
Macon	Georgia	21,651
Madison	Wisconsin	33,226
Marquette	Michigan	9,404
Medford-Klamath Falls	Oregon	13,958
Memphis	Tennessee	58,688
Meridian	Mississippi	3,875*
Miami-Ft. Lauderdale	Florida	598,705
Milwaukee	Wisconsin	82,131
Minneapolis-St. Paul	Minnesota	11,002
Minot-Bismarck-Dickinson	North Dakota	11,450
Missoula	Montana	19,763
Mobile-Pensacola (Ft Walt)	Alabama	61,941
Monroe-El Dorado	Louisiana/Arkansas	19,860
Montgomery-Selma	Alabama	18,961*
Myrtle Beach-Florence	Florida	38,795
Nashville	Tennessee	97,599
New Orleans	Louisiana	80,809
New York	New York	210,936
Norfolk-Portsmth-Newpt News	Virginia	76,664
North Platte	Nebraska	1,660
Odessa-Midland	Texas	11,827
Oklahoma City	Oklahoma	67,566
Omaha	Nebraska	36,754
Orlando-Daytona Bch-Melbrn	Florida	299,858
Ottumwa-Kirksville	Missouri	3,615
Paducah-Cape Girard-Harsbg	Illinois/Kentucky/Missouri	20,351
Panama City	Florida	20,792
Parkersburg	West Virginia	2,815
Peoria-Bloomington	Illinois	12,857
Philadelphia	Pennsylvania	274,630
Phoenix (Prescott)	Arizona	129,985
Pittsburgh	Pennsylvania	78,213
Portland	Oregon	89,967
Portland-Auburn	Maine	58,465
Presque Isle	Maine	4,058
Quincy-Hannibal-Keokuk	Illinois/Missouri/Iowa	7,130
Raleigh-Durham (Fayetvlle)	North Carolina	152,541
Rapid City	South Dakota	7,368
Reno	Nevada	21,557
Richmond-Petersburg	Virginia	74,425
Roanoke-Lynchburg	Virginia	47,907
Rochestr-Mason City-Austin	Minnesota/Iowa	1,337
Rockford	Illinois	12,469
Salisbury	Maryland	6,780
Salt Lake City	Utah	160,143
San Angelo	Texas	4,414
San Antonio	Texas	103,816
Savannah	Georgia	44,633
Sherman-Ada	Texas	9,042
Shreveport	Louisiana	34,199
Sioux City	Iowa	9,997
Sioux Falls(Mitchell)	South Dakota	17,846
South Bend-Elkhart	Indiana	23,983
Spokane	Washington	1,269
Springfield	Missouri	52,704
St. Joseph	Missouri	3,735
St. Louis	Missouri	122,974
Tallahassee-Thomasville	Florida	25,540
Tampa-St. Pete (Sarasota)	Florida	259,086
Terre Haute	Indiana	9,541
Toledo	Ohio	17,773
Topeka	Kansas	11,748
Traverse City-Cadillac	Michigan	25,184
Tri-Cities	Tennessee	24,636
Tucson (Sierra Vista)	Arizona	31,023
Tulsa	Oklahoma	46,247
Tyler-Longview(Lfkn&Ncgd)	Texas	22,605
Victoria	Texas	2,121
Waco-Temple-Bryan	Texas	25,438
Washington, DC (Hagerstown)		165,980
Wausau-Rhinelander	Wisconsin	20,470
West Palm Beach-Ft. Pierce	Florida	179,009
Wheeling-Steubenville	Ohio	6,242
Wichita Falls & Lawton	Texas	10,011
Wichita-Hutchinson Plus	Kansas	35,250
Wilkes Barre-Scranton	Pennsylvania	44,805
Wilmington	Delaware	31,680
Yakima-Pasco-Rchlnd-Knnwck	Oregon	1,741
Youngstown	Ohio	12,976
Yuma-El Centro	Arizona	3,537
Zanesville	Ohio	1,231

*Because there was a change of 11 or fewer enrollments for Week 11, data for Week 10 was used as a placeholder to adhere to privacy standards.

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 insurers, the number of net plan selections reported this year account for insurer-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 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.

Net New Plan Selections: Weekly net new plan selections take into account new plan selections minus any consumer or insurer-initiated cancelations for new plan selections.

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.

Local Markets: Cumulative plan selections for local markets are based on Designated Market Areas (DMAs) which are media markets. Some DMAs include one or more counties in a state that is not using the HealthCare.gov platform in 2016. Plan selections for those DMAs only include data for the portions of these areas that are using the HealthCare.gov platform, so the cumulative totals in the snapshot do not represent plan selections for the entire DMA.

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 orCuidadoDeSalud.gov user total.