ACA Marketplace Open Enrollment Sees 4.6M Enrollees So Far

Nearly 4.6 million individuals have signed up for 2022 healthcare coverage since the start of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace open enrollment period, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced.

Americans have either sought coverage through HealthCare.gov or their state’s individual marketplace.

The subsidies offered under the American Rescue Plan Act have increased access to affordable coverage by lowering premiums, according to HHS. The majority of individuals who live in states that use HealthCare.gov for 2022 marketplace plans are benefitting from these tax credits.

Out of the more than 4.5 million plan selections, around 900,000 were from new enrollees while 3.6 million were returning enrollees.

Thirty-three states use HealthCare.gov for coverage access while 17 states and Washington DC have a state-based marketplace, according to the report.

Nearly 4 million of the total sign-ups were attributed to individuals who accessed coverage through HealthCare.gov. Almost 800,000 of these enrollees joined a marketplace plan for the first time and 3.1 million were returning enrollees.

Meanwhile, states that run their own marketplaces were responsible for 625,000 sign-ups, with 126,000 new enrollees and nearly 500,000 returners.

“The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to making life-saving healthcare accessible and affordable for everyone who needs it,” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra stated in the press release.

“Today’s report is proof that our efforts are yielding results. Thanks to our unprecedented outreach campaigns and investments from the American Rescue Plan, millions of people across the nation are gaining health insurance with lower premiums and more choices than ever.”

Florida, which uses HealthCare.gov for marketplace coverage access, saw the most open enrollment period plan selections, with just over 1.2 million new and returning enrollees. Texas followed with 747,860 enrollments through HealthCare.gov.

California accounted for nearly half of all state-based marketplace enrollments so far, with 309,584 plan selections, the report stated. The state-based marketplace with the next highest enrollment number was Pennsylvania, which had 50,376 selections.

Additionally, a handful of states saw more than 100,000 health plan selections, including Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, North Carolina, South Carolina, Utah, and Virginia. These states used HealthCare.gov as a coverage platform.

The 2022 open enrollment period began on November 1, 2021 and consumers have until December 15 to select a plan on HealthCare.gov to start receiving coverage on January 1, 2022. State-based marketplaces have similar deadlines to receive coverage at the beginning of the new year, HHS said.

Consumers who select plans on HealthCare.gov between December 16 and the January 15, 2022 deadline will receive coverage starting on February 1, 2022.

In the first week of the 2022 open enrollment period, the ACA marketplace saw 800,000 plan selections, according to CMS.

Prior to the ACA open enrollment period, the 2021 special enrollment period, which ended August 15, 2021, was a key opportunity for individuals to gain coverage on the federal health insurance marketplace.

Around 2.8 million people signed up for ACA marketplace coverage during the special enrollment period. Demographic data from HHS also showed that the share of African American and Hispanic or Latino enrollees increased in 2021 compared to the past two years.

The temporary American Rescue Plan Act subsidies have gone a long way to make marketplace healthcare coverage more affordable for Americans, but a recent brief from Kaiser Family Foundation revealed that enrollees must consider several factors in order to see the most savings.

For example, premium amounts can vary by location, as subsidies may not cover full premium amounts in every county. Cost-sharing reductions can also influence premium amounts and out-of-pocket healthcare costs for low-income individuals in certain plan levels, whereas individuals with higher incomes do not have that benefit.