Health Insurance Marketplace 2015 Open Enrollment Period: December Enrollment Report

For the period: November 15, 2014 – December 15, 2014¹

The Health Insurance Marketplace (“the Marketplace”) plays a critical role in achieving one of the Affordable Care Act’s goals of reducing the number of uninsured Americans by creating a market for affordable, high-quality health insurance for individual and small group consumers. This report provides preliminary data for enrollment-related activity in the individual Marketplace during the first month of the 2015 Open Enrollment period for all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Section I of the report focuses on the 37 states that are using the HealthCare.gov platform for 2015 (also known as “HealthCare.gov states”) for the first month of the 2015 Open Enrollment (generally for the period 11-15-2014 to 12-15-2014).¹ The 37 HealthCare.gov states include 35 states that are states that used the HealthCare.gov platform in both 2014 and 2015 and Oregon and Nevada, which are new to the HealthCare.gov platform in 2015. These 37 states accounted for 68 percent of total Marketplace plan selections in 2014.² The data available for these states includes Marketplace plan selections for new consumers and consumers reenrolling in Marketplace coverage – including consumers who are actively reenrolling in Marketplace coverage (people who return to the Marketplace to select a new plan or actively renew their existing plan), but not consumers who are being automatically reenrolled into coverage (“automatic reenrollees” – people who retain coverage without returning to the Marketplace and selecting a plan). The reporting period for HealthCare.gov states in this report (through 12-15-14) differs from the reporting period (through 12-26-14) in the most recent weekly enrollment snapshot published by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).³

The most recent Weekly Enrollment Snapshot included a summary of enrollment activity in the 37 HealthCare.gov states showing that from November 15th to December 26th, nearly 6.5 million consumers selected a 2015 Marketplace plan or were automatically reenrolled in those states. As noted above, this report includes data for the HealthCare.gov states through 12-15-14, as well as for other states that are using their own Marketplace platforms (as discussed below). However, neither the most recent Weekly Enrollment Snapshot, nor this report fully capture the total number of plan selections for coverage beginning January 1st (see Appendix Table C1 for additional information on how the data in this report compare with the data in the most recent Weekly Enrollment Snapshot). This report also includes data relating to completed applications, eligibility determinations, and website visits, and call center activity for the HealthCare.gov states; as well as data on the overall distribution of Marketplace plan selections in these states by gender, age, metal level, financial assistance status, race/ethnicity, and rural status.

Section II of the report focuses on the 14 states (including the District of Columbia) that are operating their own Marketplace platform for 2015 (see page 10). Most of the 14 states include activity for the period 11-15-2014 to 12-13-2014 (however data for California are through 12-14-14). These 14 states accounted for 32 percent of Marketplace plan selections in 2014. The data available for these states includes new consumers, consumers who are actively reenrolling in Marketplace coverage (except for two states, New York and California), and automatic reenrollees in 5 states (Connecticut, Idaho, Kentucky, Vermont, and Washington).

Because complete data are not yet available, this report does not provide a comprehensive estimate of the total number of Marketplace plan selections, including both new consumers and consumers reenrolling in Marketplace coverage, for all states for coverage beginning on January 1, 2015. (Please see Appendix Table C2 for additional information on the Marketplace plan selection data that are available for various states).

¹ Most of the data in this report are for the 11-15-14 to 12-15-14 reporting period with the following exceptions: Marketplace plan selection data for most of the 14 states that are using their own Marketplace platforms are for 11-15-14 to 12-13-14 (with the exception of California, which is reporting data for 11-15-14 to 12-14-14); and data on website visits and call center volume for states that are using the HealthCare.gov platform are for 11-15-14 to 12-20-14.

² For more information about data on Marketplace plan selections for the 2014 coverage year, please see the Marketplace Summary Enrollment Report, which can be accessed at http://aspe.hhs.gov/health/reports/2014/MarketPlaceEnrollment/Apr2014/ib_2014Apr_enrollment.pdf.

³ The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has released a weekly snapshot for Open Enrollment Week 6: December 20 - December 26, 2014 which states that nearly 6.5 million consumers have selected 2015 Marketplace plans in the states that are using the HealthCare.gov platform through 12-26-14, including data for automatic reenrollments. The weekly Open Enrollment snapshots provide preliminary point-in-time estimates for weekly data that could fluctuate based on consumers changing or canceling plans or having a change in status such as a new job or marriage; data revisions may mean that the weekly totals from the snapshots may not sum to the cumulative numbers. The weekly snapshots can be accessed at http://www.hhs.gov/healthcare/facts/blog/index.html.