ACA 2022 Open Enrollment Starts Off With 133K New Enrollees

After Affordable Care Act marketplace 2022 open enrollment launched on November 1, 2021, CMS reported that the first week ended with 773,557 plan selections.

Of those nearly 774,000 plan selections on the federal health insurance marketplace, over 133,200 were new enrollees. A single application could encompass an entire family. Thus, CMS highlighted that more than 1.2 million Americans were on the submitted applications, including dependents and not just the applicant.

“Health care coverage is more affordable and accessible than ever and we’re seeing that in the first six days of this Open Enrollment period,” CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure said in the press release.

Premiums have been falling due to the American Rescue Plan Act tax credits that started during the special enrollment period. Brooks-LaSure said that nearly 40 percent of all enrollees who signed up for coverage during the first week of 2022 open enrollment were able to access a plan with a monthly premium of $10 or less.

More than 640,200 enrollees renewed their coverage. Additionally, over 2.7 million individuals used HealthCare.gov in the first week of open enrollment and 95,757 used CuidadoDeSalud.gov.

The agency noted that over 209,500 HealthCare.gov users were window shopping for health plans, as were nearly 14,000 CuidadoDeSalud.gov users.

CMS also shared consumer engagement outcomes for the first week of open enrollment season. The call center received over 293,500 calls and nearly 24,200 individuals spoke with a Spanish-speaking representative. As always, the snapshot acknowledged that counting unique users may be inaccurate due to consumers’ use of certain browser settings or behaviors.

The first week of the 2022 open enrollment season fell slightly below the first week of the 2021 open enrollment season.

In the first week of the 2021 open enrollment season, over 818,300 individuals made a plan selection, resulting in more than 173,300 new enrollees. The first two weeks of open enrollment that year fell 20 percent below the turnout the year prior. The Trump administration pointed to this decline as a sign that the Affordable Care Act was unsuccessful and should be reformed.

Despite the fact that the federal marketplace 2021 open enrollment season had a slow start compared to the 2020 open enrollment season, ultimately enrollment jumped seven percent, though the number of new enrollees was lower than it had been the previous year.

The CMS press release for the Affordable Care Act 2022 open enrollment season noted a couple of unusual circumstances that were relevant to the open enrollment season’s outcomes.

In particular, Brooks-LaSure highlighted the significance of the 2022 open enrollment season’s gains in the context of the 2021 special enrollment period.

“We’re excited to kick-off open enrollment with such a strong first week – particularly when you factor in the unprecedented more than 2 million individuals who gained coverage earlier this year,” said Brooks-LaSure.

Apart from the 2021 special enrollment period, the press release noted that the current snapshot also may reflect the loss of New Jersey and Pennsylvania on the federal platform. These two states launched their own state-based exchanges during the 2021 open enrollment season.

Moreover, during the 2022 open enrollment period, another three states initiated state-based exchanges. CMS revealed that Kentucky, Maine, and New Mexico would allow individuals to start window-shopping on their state-based exchanges in October 2021.

Open enrollment numbers are never final until the season closes. For example, the impact of the first week of open enrollment season might be different if enrollees change or cancel their health plans later in the season. The last day of the 2022 open enrollment season is December 15, 2021.