As the 2015 open season comes to an end, California, which has the biggest state-run public health insurance exchange, says enrollment is surging.
From the Nov. 15, 2014 start of the 2015 open enrollment season through Feb. 15, more than 474,000 state residents selected for the first time a plan in the exchange authorized by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and known as Covered California.
On Feb. 15 alone, 36,000 individuals selected coverage, the highest day of plan selection during the current open enrollment period.
“We saw incredible momentum,” Covered California Executive Director Peter Lee said Tuesday during a news briefing. With the open enrollment period, which was to have ended Feb. 15, but was extended through Feb. 22 to give additional time to, among others, individuals to complete the enrollment process, new enrollees “will easily break 500,000,” Mr. Lee said.
With 944,000 individuals renewing coverage, total enrollment now is about 1.4 million, Mr. Lee said. That is somewhat less than an earlier state target of 1.7 million, but the current enrollment number could rise further depending on how many individuals complete the enrollment process by the final Feb. 22 deadline.
California residents eligible for federal health care reform law premium subsidies received $3.2 billion in subsidies — or an average of $5,200 per covered household — to purchase coverage in the state's health insurance exchange, state officials said.